Greek media have retracted reports about the country's alleged plans to launch vaccination with Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG), primarily used against tuberculosis, in June to protect the population from novel coronavirus
ATHENS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th May, 2020) Greek media have retracted reports about the country's alleged plans to launch vaccination with Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG), primarily used against tuberculosis, in June to protect the population from novel coronavirus.
On Wednesday, Greece's Proto Thema newspaper reported, citing Evangelos Yamarellos, a professor of pathology of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, that the COVID-19 vaccination with BCG has been approved by the National Agency for Medicines and will commence on June 1.
Hours later, the newspaper replaced the material with a new one titled "Truth About TB Vaccine and Coronavirus," specifying that the Health Ministry is planning a clinical trial of BCG, not a vaccination campaign.
Other media outlets have also removed their publications about the alleged campaign.
The BCG vaccine, which was first used medically back in 1921, came under the spotlight after several scientists across the globe hinted at a possible correlation between countries that require BCG vaccines and lower COVID-19 death rates there. In mid-April, the World Health Organization said that two clinical trials of the vaccine were underway, warning against speaking about its impact on SARS-CoV-2 until the trials were completed.
