The effectiveness of BCG vaccination: the Jordanian experience

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of BCG vaccination against tuberculosis (TB). TB cases occurring before 1 January 1995 among the birth cohorts 1980-1986 were identified from the Central TB Registry in Amman, Jordan and their BCG vaccination status determined. The proportion of vaccinated and unvaccinated children by age at vaccination and birth cohort was obtained from the Directorate of Chest Diseases based on the surveys conducted by the Directorate. A total of 429 cases of TB occurred among the above birth cohorts during the follow-up period. The overall BCG effectiveness against TB was 87 per cent (95 per cent CL 0.81-0.91). BCG was highly effective against pulmonary TB (85 per cent, 95 per cent CL 0.78-0.90) as well as extrapulmonary TB (95 per cent, 95 per cent CL 0.82-0.99). Our data suggest that BCG vaccination should continue to be considered as an important component of the strategy of TB prevention and call for improvement of coverage with this vaccine.