BCG Vaccine

This evening I filling out a health questionaire for employment in the UK and two questions puzzled me. So I did a little research and I found this.

Heaf test-  What we call in the US "TB test" "PPD-Mantoux" yes?

BCG- It is a vaccine to prevent against TB.

http://www.shb.ie/content1517134851_1.cfm

Is this a European thing? I lived in a highly infectious TB area in Kenya for two years and never heard of it. If it works, I wonder why more aid workers do not get vaccinated against it.

Is this a common practice?

Here is what the CDC says...


http://www.cdc.gov/nchstp/tb/pubs/tbfactsheets/250120.htm

BCG is not generally recommended for use in the United States because of the low risk of infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the variable effectiveness of the vaccine against adult pulmonary TB, and the vaccine’s potential interference with tuberculin skin test reactivity. The BCG vaccine should be considered only for very select persons who meet specific criteria and in consultation with a TB expert.