On Apr. 29, 2020, a team of Texas A&M University researchers asked hundreds of frontline medical workers to participate in a late-stage, phase 4, clinical trial of a widely used tuberculosis vaccine that could blunt the devastating effects of COVID-19.

BCG, which also is used to treat bladder cancer in the U.S. and could be widely available for use against COVID-19 in just six months because it has already been proven safe for other uses. Recruitment of 1,800 volunteers to participate in the trial began in College Station and Houston, and it could be expanded to other areas of the state, as well as Los Angeles and Boston.