Hospital staff will be given a tuberculosis shot during the $1.5 million trial, which is funded by Andrew Forrest’s Minderoo Foundation.
The standard tuberculosis vaccine is known to prevent other infections, particularly respiratory infections and boosting the immune system.
Around 750 frontline staff from Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, 750 from Fiona Stanley Hospital and 500 from the Perth Children’s Hospital will participate in the trial, which will test whether the existing tuberculosis vaccine can reduce the chance of COVID-19 infection or at least lessen the severity of symptoms.
Participants will be closely monitored to see if they develop COVID-19 and, if they do, to determine the severity of their symptoms.
The trial is a national program run in partnership with the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne and has been endorsed by the World Health Organization (WHO).
If it works, it will be considered for wider distribution.
