South African biotech group TASK has started testing the century-old BCG vaccine, widely used against tuberculosis, to protect against COVID-19. More here:
South African biotech group TASK this month started the continent’s first trial to see whether 250 high-risk workers given a booster dose of BCG vaccine show better protection against COVID-19 than the same number given a placebo.
But unlike those countries, where BCG vaccinations at birth aren’t the norm, South Africa’s trial involves injecting people for a second time. BCG injections are mandatory at birth in South Africa, where TB is a leading killer. Trying out a new medical intervention in Africa always rings alarm bells because of an unfortunate history of big pharmaceutical companies using Africans as guinea pigs.
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