The long controversy over anti-tuberculosis vaccination in Canada: the Calmette-Guerin bacillus (BCG), 1925-1975

Abstract

The focus of this article is the history of Canada's reception of Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG), an anti-tuberculosis vaccine which has almost constantly been plagued with controversy. The article examines this vaccine NRCC sponsored introduction in 1925, which led to the creation of the Associate Committee on Tuberculosis Research, a committee almost unique for its acrimonious debates. It also analyzes the interests at stakes in the ultimate rejection of the BCG by the federal Department of Agriculture veterinary services and, with the exception of Quebec and Newfoundland, by almost all public health authorities in Canada. Based on sources never taped before, this paper sheds a light on the multiple ramifications of a little known episode of the Canadian public health history.