On Jul. 10, 2020, researchers from Virginia Tech and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) suggested that Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG), a tuberculosis vaccine routinely given to children in countries with high rates of tuberculosis infection, might play a significant role in mitigating mortality rates from COVID-19. Their findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Escobar, working with NIH researchers Alvaro Molina-Cruz and Carolina Barillas-Mury, collected coronavirus mortality data from around the world. From that data, the team adjusted for variables, such as income, access to education and health services, population size and densities, and age distribution. Through all of the variables, a correlation held showing that countries with higher rates of BCG vaccinations had lower peak mortality rates from COVID-19.

One sample that stood out was Germany. West and East Germany had different vaccines plans prior to the country’s unification in 1990. Differences in BCG vaccinations between West and East Germany correlated with differences in their COVID-19 mortality.