BCG vaccine immunity against human tuberculosis. The BCG vaccine can be anywhere from 0 to 80% effective in preventing tuberculosis for a duration of 15 years; however, its protective effect appears to vary according to geography and the lab in which the vaccine strain was grown. A number of different companies make BCG, sometimes using different genetic strains of the bacterium. This may result in different product characteristics. OncoTICE, used for bladder instillation for bladder cancer, was developed by Organon Laboratories (since acquired by Schering-Plough, and in turn acquired by Merck & Co.). Pacis BCG, made from the Montréal (Institut Armand-Frappier) strain,
Inoculation theory Inoculation theory Inoculation theory was developed by social psychologist William J. McGuire in 1961 to explain how attitudes and beliefs change, and more importantly, how to keep existing attitudes and beliefs consistent in the face of attempts to change them. Inoculation theory functions as a strategy to protect attitudes from change–to confer resistance to counter-attitudinal influences, whether such influences take the form of direct attacks or sustained pressures. The theory posits that weak counterarguments–arguments that are easily refuted–generate resistance within the receiver, enabling them to maintain their beliefs in the face of a future, stronger, attack. Following exposure to weak