Thank you for taking part in this important research
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BCG vaccine does not protect against COVID-19 in healthcare workers
Welcome! In this issue of the newsletter, we are pleased to share the BRACE trial six-month primary outcome results with you.
As you may recall, the trial comprised two stages. COVID-19 outcomes were analysed in the 3988 healthcare workers in Stage 2 of the BRACE trial.
The analysis showed that BCG vaccination did not reduce the risk of developing COVID-19 in the first 6 months of the trial. The risk of symptomatic COVID-19 was 14.7% in the BCG group and 12.3% in the placebo group during the first six months after joining the trial. This difference was not statistically significant. The trial could not determine if the vaccine reduced hospitalisations or death due to the low numbers of participants with severe COVID-19.
For more information on our primary outcome results, please see our Media Release, Executive Summary and FAQ page. The full results, with detailed information on all the outcomes, are published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
I also wanted to take this opportunity to provide an update on the trial’s progress. The study team is currently busy co-ordinating the shipping of your remaining samples to Murdoch Children’s, and cleaning and analysing the data for the 12-month outcomes.
Thank you again for taking part in this important research. We look forward to sharing the trial’s 12-month outcomes with you in 2023, including whether BCG protects against other illnesses.
Warm regards,
Professor Nigel Curtis, BRACE trial Chief Principal Investigator
Head of the Infectious Diseases Research Group at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute
Professor of Paediatric Infectious Diseases at The University of Melbourne
Head of Infectious Diseases at The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne
Featured publication
Randomized Trial of BCG Vaccine to Protect against COVID-19 in Health Care Workers. New England Journal of Medicine, 27 April 2023.
Your questions answered
Thank you from the investigators
It’s been three years since the BRACE trial began - investigating the off-target effects of BCG vaccine. Researchers from Australia, the Netherlands, Spain, the UK and Brazil thank almost 7000 healthcare workers for taking part.
Thanks to
Contact us
VISIT: mcri.edu.au/BRACE
