Historical Figures

French scientists Albert Calmette and Camille Guérin developed the commonly administered BCG (Bacillus Calmette-Guérin) vaccine. The two scientists worked together to weaken a strain of Mycobacterium bovis so that when it would be injected into an animal, it would not cause tuberculosis. They spent 15 years and performed over 230 transplantations of the bacteria before they achieved their goal.

By 1921, they succeeded in producing a non-virulent strain and human trials began in France, Germany, and Canada. The BCG vaccine was being administered mainly in Europe and Asia, with large trials specifically in India and France.

As this vaccine was the only one used in the 1960s, its efficacy was tested. In South India, there has been a trial to test two different strains, and they found that neither vaccine imparted protection against pulmonary infection, and that the BCG vaccine yielded false positives. However, the world's population is still supplied with the BCG vaccine by Russia, Bulgaria, and India, and it is still administered in many more countries.