BCG in China
Chen, Z.R.; Wei, X.H.; Zhu, Z.Y.
Chinese Medical Journal 95(6): 437-442
1982
ISSN/ISBN: 0366-6999 PMID: 6813052 Document Number: 424346
Remarkable progress has been made in the fight against tuberculosis in China since introduction of Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine in the early 1930s. Until liberation, the cost of the vaccine was beyond the reach of Chinese workers and peasants. After 1949, however, the People's Government set up courses to train local inoculators and organized antituberculosis clinics. At present, BCG vaccination is available in all of the 29 provinces, municipalities, and auconomous regions on the mainland. As of 1979, 500 million vaccinations had been administered to children under 15 years of age. In Beijing, 2,004,933 newborns have been inoculated. The city's conversion rate is 97%. The method of inoculation is adapted to suit local conditions. Scarification, as opposed to the intradermal method, had been found to be particularly suited to rural areas or vaccination over wide areas where a sufficient supply of syringes and needles is not available. To simplify vaccination procedures, some areas have initiated vaccination without tuberculin testing. In part, the dramatic decrease in tuberculosis incidence in China is due to the better living standards following liberation. However, the role played by BCG vaccination in tuberculosis prevention cannot be underestimated.