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Simple, practical ways to assess the protective efficacy of a new tuberculosis vaccine
1Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA. gcomstock@mindspring.com.
Abstract:
There is strong evidence that tuberculin sensitivity cannot be used to evaluate the efficacy of different strains of bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG). For identifying efficacious strains of BCG and evaluating candidates for new vaccines, the best method is a randomized trial. Simple trials in which newborns would be vaccinated with new and old vaccines in alternate years could demonstrate which vaccine was the better.