Infants born in Australia to mothers from countries with a high prevalence of tuberculosis: to BCG or not to BCG?

In reply: Our suggestion that routine BCG vaccination be considered for all infants born to mothers from countries with a high prevalence of tuberculosis (TB) was based on the finding that the current arbitrary system, relying on parents seeking out a BCG vaccination service, is unreliable. We found that 73% of such infants met the criteria for BCG vaccination according to the Australian immunisation guidelines,1 but almost 90% of mothers were unaware of the need for this vaccine. Moreover, the surveyed women had 47 other children who had already travelled to high-TB-prevalence countries for 1 month or longer, of whom more than half (26) had not had the BCG vaccine.2