BCG vaccine

In accordance with its mandate to provide guidance to Member States on health-policy matters, WHO is issuing a series of regularly updated position papers on vaccines and combinations of vaccines against diseases that have an international public health impact. These papers are concerned primarily with the use of vaccines in large-scale immunization programmes; they summarize essential background information on diseases and vaccines, and conclude with the current WHO position concerning their use in the global context. This document contains the following information related to the BCG vaccine: public health aspects, the pathogen, immune responses, clinical aspects, justification for vaccine control, BCG vaccine, new vaccines against tuberculosis, general WHO position on new vaccines, WHO position on BCG vaccination. Source: http://www.who.int/immunization/wer7904BCG_Jan04_position_paper.pdf