[BCG Today].

Until recently, French BCG vaccination policy required BCG vaccination before entry into day-care centers or school and the revaccination of tuberculin-negative children. Recent reassessment of this policy led in 2004 to the discontinuation of all revaccinations and of postvaccination tuberculin tests except those performed as part of tuberculosis diagnosis or in the monitoring of healthcare and social workers, for whom BCG vaccination remains mandatory. After an epidemiologic assessment of the effect of either selective vaccination of high-risk children or discontinuation of all BCG vaccination and analysis of balance of risks and benefits of each option, the High Council of Public Hygiene (Infectious diseases section) approved the principle of selective vaccination of children. As a prerequisite to this implementation of this strategy, however, the council advised the Ministry of Health that other control measures to decrease the risk of tuberculosis in children should be reinforced. This issue is made more complex by the withdrawal in 2006 of the multipuncture vaccine, used in France in more than 90% of primary BCG vaccinations.