PANAJI:
Nearly 2,500 adult individuals from South Goa have been administered BCG vaccine jabs in nine months since January this year as part of a wider nationwide clinical trial to explore the vaccines efficacy in making it part of the strategy to fight tuberculosis in the country.
South Goa district was picked for this clinical trial and the shots are being administered to consenting adults from January this year only at primary health centres and government facilities.
Dr Manish Gaunekar, who heads the State's TB eradication programme said the trial is being conducted under the aegis of Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) the country's apex medical science and research body.
BCG vaccines are hitherto recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) only for infants as an immunity building strategy against numerous diseases. In adults, it is thus far been permitted only for research and clinical trial purposes.
India has the highest number of TB patients among all countries in the world and the ICMR through this nationwide trial is now exploring if BCG revaccination can be included in the country's TB strategy.
Gaunekar said, only those affected by TB in the past, current patients, their close contacts, smokers, diabetics and 'senior citizes' are the categories of adults aged 50 and above are eligible to volunteer for the trial.
The ICMR has picked one district per State and the trials are currently on in at least two dozen States, he added.
In South Goa so far, PHCs across the district have held 390 vaccination sessions as part of the trial. The DHS has also mapped some 1,79,419 households with at least 1.06 lakh individuals eligible to participate in the trial.
However, consent has been obtained from only 3,348 individuals, mostly contacts of TB patients.
"Of these consenting adults, the BCG vaccine has already been administered to 2,476 as of today (Thursday). We are continuously monitoring the trial and updating the data daily," Dr Gaunekar said.
Several thousand more have expressed "willingness" but it does not amount to "consent" which still has to be formally obtained from them before enrolling them for the trial.
He said health workers from PHCs across South Goa are holding awareness about the clinical trial and benefits of the vaccine.
TB numbers in Goa have plateaued at a seemingly high 2,000 cases a year for the last several years. Also, approximately 200 die every year from the disease.
WHO does not recommend
The World Health Organisation (WHO) does not recommend BCG vaccine for adults.
On its website, WHO said, that the BCG vaccine is mandated only for infants, new borns.
