Did you have the BCG vaccine?

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So there's been lots of media outlets mentioning the weak link between countries that have the BCG vaccine still on their schedule and low incidence/fatality of COVID, with countries that never had BCG (Italy/US) on their schedule having high incidence and fatality. I'm not really debating that, obviously much more research is needed. The general theory being the BCG jab boosts your overall immunity, or provides a blueprint for combatting other unrelated pathogens, particularly just after its given (which they are trialling on healthcare workers in Australia).

The question was posed to Michael Mosely on Twitter and he said well everyone in UK has had BCG and we have high incidence/fatality so that link can't be right. But I wonder how many have not had it here, most under 30s won't have had it unless considered at risk, but the rest of us between 30-70 should have had it right?

Except lots of people commented on Twitter that their council cancelled BCG vaccines in the 80s, their parents didn't consent, or they were off school that day. I'm in my 30s (northwest england) and had it, and I think most of my schoolmates did, apart from a handful that were either immune (Mantoux test) or scared of needles. Did you have it, or didn't and why?

I know there is still incidence of it, but it doesnt transmit all that easily.

They stopped giving it because incidence had dropped, around 5k cases in england last year.

I’m in my 40s and had it. I think it’s still routinely given in high risk areas.

I found this

www.nelft.nhs.uk/services-hv-bcg-vaccinations/

It stopped being given as a routine vaccination for everyone because the vaccination programme was so successful it was no longer needed.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3062527/

Here's some interesting fun facts on global BCG vaccine programmes.

I had the test but the day they were doing the BCG I came down with chicken pox so never had it done

I am fifties and I have had it. Universal uptake at my school.

I’m 50 and I had it

I was born in 1983. Whole year group was given the Heaf test when we were about 13/14 years old (so about 1996). My Heaf test was odd - 3 (out of 6) of the needles showed a reaction, so that was repeated. The same thing happened again. I was deemed to have some level of immunity (my grandfather had TB but I never met him - I presume my mother developed antibodies) so I didn't have the BCG. The rest of my year group were given the BCG.

I'm early thirties and I had it in school.

I had it around Year 9 or 10 at school and I’m 39.

Don’t think it worked though. The site didn’t swell and scab like it was supposed to and I have no scar either.

I had it. We live in Asia and they still do it here, my son just had his.

I remember a girl who reacted to the antibody test - the weird multi pinprick one you had before the vaccination. She was repeatedly tested and had her lungs x rayed. She didn’t have it but has been exposed to it (probably through family visiting from a high risk country.)

Had it. 33. Didn't get the scar

I'm surprised the US doesn't have it, I had to prove I'd had it and undergo a chest scan to be allowed to study at a college there (not sure if this was government/state/college mandated- it was 10 years ago)

Hang on. Is the BCG one the same as the TB one?

It is the TB one!

No, I'm mid 40s in the north west. The year above us had it then it was stopped when it was my year's turn. My dh, who is the same school year but a different area did have it though ???

I'm 34 and got mine in the first three years of high school (can't remember which year).
It didn't explode when punched but I do remember a huge amount of very sticky pus oozing out.

I had it in the 60s and so did my eldest 3 all born in the 1980s.

My younger sons were born in the 90s weren't offered it. All babies from Asian heritage were given it at birth.

Meant to say both as a baby, at the 6 week check

I had it. The scab went green and manky and wept for months before it eventually dried up and fell off. My scar is much bigger and deeper than dh's. I'm 40.

I'm 29 and had it in school. Think my year was the last, they cancelled it after that.

Thanks @Glowcat. I've had it then.

I'm in my late 30s and missed it at secondary school in the early 90s. I remember the rest of my class having it and am not sure why I didn't- perhaps my mum didn't consent as I know there were some vaccines she refused to consent to (whooping cough which I subsequently got, and combined MMR). I grew up in a UK TB 'hotspot' and got the BCG vaccine myself in my early 20s. I now live in a London borough and my young daughter hasn't had the BCG vaccine as she didn't qualify- only certain groups do/ did in this borough (eg parents/ grandparents born in certain countries).

My daughter had it she's 30 my son didn't and he's 26 so somewhere in the middle of then I suppose

I'm mid forties and I had it. For some reason I wasn't in school when the vaccination was given and I remember having to walk to the council health centre for it. A year or so later I had to have a chest x-ray, even though I'd been vaccinated, because an elderly relative was found to have TB.