Concerns about supply anddemand due to the hypothesis “Tuberculosis vaccines could reduce the Coronavirusinfections”
Red light on North Korea which is high risk country.
‘BCG vaccinationcountries are relatively low level of damage’
‘Could effect on thehigh-risk countries like North Korea’
‘Manufacturing normally takes 8 months...concern about supply-demand imbalance’
‘Initiate clinical trials to medical staffs in Australia’
International vaccinesupply and demand issues are emerging as a series of hypotheses that BCGvaccination to prevent tuberculosis could reduce the infection rate andmortality rate of new coronavirus infections (CORONA19). There are alsoconcerns that current situation could be fatal for country like North Korea,which is classified as a high-risk country for tuberculosis by the World HealthOrganization (WHO)
A woman is waiting for her 2days old baby's BCG vaccination in front of a medical facility in Zimbabwe On 21/11/2019.The World Health Organization (WHO) pointed out on the 12th of April thatshortage of BCG vaccines could put newborns in high-risk countries attuberculosis risk.
Researchers at theNew York Institute of Technology in the U.S. released a paper last month thatcompares the number of new coronas and deaths to each country's population withBCG vaccination status and showed statistically significant results.The Asahi Shimbun newspaperon the 15th of April that a research team at Fujita University ofMedicine, a new research hub in Japan, released similar results on the 6thof April.
The rationale forthis hypothesis is that countries that vaccinate BCG like Korea and Japan tendto have relatively low level of damage to new types of Coronavirus
The WHO immediatelymediate in regard to the hypothesis. On the 12th of April, 1 "Thereis no scientific evidence that BCG vaccines protect humans from newcoronavirus," the WHO said. "We do not recommend BCG vaccination withthe absence of evidence." "If there is a shortage of vaccines, newborn babiesin countries with high risk of tuberculosis could not be vaccinated and theirmortality rate could rise," the WHO pointed out. However, the WHO mentionedthat "two clinical trials in progress " and that "we willevaluate them when evidence comes.
In the last month,Australia and the Netherlands began clinical trials in regard to BCGvaccination to medical staffs who is struggling with the new Coronavirus. Accordingto the U.S. science journal, Britain and Germany are preparing for similarclinical trials
As this fact becameknown, the demand for BCG vaccines by ordinary people also surged. According toAsahi newspaper, shipments of vaccines have tripled since the 31st of last monthcompared to last year due to a series of requests from households that did nothave BCG vaccinations
Experts concern thatthe supply and demand balance could collapse in an instant due to the manufacturingprocess which is normally taking 8 months for BCG vaccines.
In that case, itcould also affect relief supplies to 30 high-risk TB countries, including NorthKorea. According to the Korea Centers for Disease Control, about 32 percent ofNorth Korea's population (as of 2018) suffers from infectious diseases, themost serious one is tuberculosis.
The WHO reported thatalmost 20,000 North Koreans died of tuberculosis in 2018 in "2019 WorldTuberculosis Report," This is about 80 people per 100,000 people, 16 timesmore than South Korea's and 4 times the global average
North Korea, whichhas faced economic difficulties by completely locking up its border to preventa new type of coronavirus, could be in danger of another unexpected situation.
