BCG-vaccine studies. 6. Effect of exposing the vaccination site to sunlight immediately after vaccination.

Early in 1953, nearly 2,000 schoolchildren in Jabalpur, India, were tuberculin-tested, and 1,200 of them vaccinated, in a co-operative study designed to determine whether exposing the vaccination site to strong sunlight immediately after injection of BCG would affect the development of tuberculin allergy. Follow-up examination in 5-6 weeks showed that the tuberculin reactions (and vaccinal lesions) averaged the same size in three groups of vaccinated children: (a) those whose vaccination site was exposed to sunlight for a period ranging from 0 to 45 minutes immediately after vaccination; (b) those exposed for a full 45 minutes after an interval ranging from 0 to 45 minutes after vaccination; and (c) those not exposed during the study period. It would thus appear unnecessary at the present time to recommend shielding the vaccination site from sunlight immediately after the vaccine has been injected.