Adult Bacille Calmette-Guérin vaccination during the pandemic of COVID-19 in India

Abstract

The pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has impacted many health service systems including tuberculosis (TB) control in India. As of October 19, 2020, India has the second highest number of COVID cases globally, amounting to 7.55 million reported COVID-19 cases and 114,640 deaths. Indian Council of Medical Research's Bacille Calmette-Guérin vaccine study among elderly individuals in COVID-19 hotspots involves the following strategy such as COVID screening by antibody testing and real-time reverse-transcriptase-polymerized chain reaction, TB screening by symptom and chest X-ray, and those who are tested positive will be linked to the national tuberculosis elimination programme for the management, this could be a sustainable new strategy in combating the two pandemic diseases, especially in India with high TB and COVID-19 disease burden. To ensure no one is left behind, the paradigm shift of screening for TB and COVID should be in place to sustain the progress made toward TB elimination.