In the worldwide battle against COVID-19, scientists are investigating whether a century-old tuberculosis vaccine might offer some additional protection against the novel coronavirus.
And Bulgaria -- one of the world's leading manufacturers of the vaccine -- is holding out hope of new markets for the many millions of doses it produces each year.
The WHO, for its part, said last month that there is no evidence that BCG protects people against infection with COVID-19.Nevertheless, Bulgarian scientists suggest that the Balkan country's high rate of BCG vaccination -- as well as an early lockdown -- helped it to escape the worst of the pandemic.
Gerginova has administered BCG shots to newborn babies for more than 30 years at a private Sofia hospital. Bulgaria is also one of just four suppliers to the WHO -- alongside India, Japan and Denmark -- for the United Nations' anti-tuberculosis campaigns in Africa and Asia."We have known for many years that the BCG has some more general beneficial effects," Camille Locht, head of research at the National Institute of Health and Medical Research in the northern French city of Lille, told AFP.
"Due to the slim profit margins and the complex production process, there is real pressure on the supply of the vaccine on an international scale," Bul Bio chief executive Rumen Kofinov told AFP.Among several different versions of the vaccine that were developed, one was tested in Bulgaria as far back as 1926. And large-scale production of BCG began in 1949 in a state laboratory that was Bul Bio's predecessor.
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