Each year, more than 100 million newborns around the world receive vaccinations against Mycobacterium tuberculosis, or TB, which infects about one-quarter of the world’s population. Facilities across the world produce several different formulations of these vaccines, known as Bacille Calmette Guérin (BCG) vaccines. These are given interchangeably, yet new research from the Precision Vaccines Program at Boston Children’s Hospital calls that practice into question.
The study, published in the journal Vaccine, shows that BCG vaccines vary widely in their characteristics, including their ability to activate cytokines, potent elements of the immune system response.
“We found that licensed BCG vaccines differ dramatically, raising fundamental questions about whether the quality of these vaccines are equivalent and should be considered interchangeable,” explains co-senior investigator Ofer Levy, MD, PhD, director of the Precision Vaccines Program.
