World Tuberculosis Day 2023: The Promise of TB Vaccines

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Vaccines

World Tuberculosis Day is observed annually on March 24 to raise awareness about this devastating disease, which infects more than 10 million people and kills approximately 1.6 million each year—equal to one TB death every 20 seconds. TB is currently one of the world’s leading infectious killers, second only to COVID-19, though it has received just a fraction of the attention of the COVID-19 pandemic.

TB is currently one of the world’s leading infectious killers

TB infects more than 10 million people and kills approximately 1.6 million each year.

For over a century, the only available TB vaccine has been the bacille Calmette-Guérin vaccine (BCG). Meeting the End TB Strategy target of a 90% reduction in TB deaths and an 80% reduction in TB incidence by 2030 will not be possible without the development of new and effective vaccines, as well as a robust strategy to support vaccine preparedness and uptake. Although the BCG vaccine protects newborns and children under 5 against TB, it does not protect older children, adolescents, and adults against infection.

USAID recently awarded $200 million in research funding to the Supporting, Mobilizing, and Accelerating Research for Tuberculosis Elimination (SMART4TB) project to improve TB diagnostics, therapeutics, transmission control, local stewardship, and prevention around the world. The SMART4TB consortium is a five-year initiative led by Johns Hopkins Medicine that will support targeted research in collaboration with local partners in high-burden countries, strengthen local capacity to conduct future research, and translate research findings into policy and practice.

Partnering with Johns Hopkins Medicine in the SMART4TB consortium are the University of California, San Francisco Center for Tuberculosis (CTB); the KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation; the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation; the Treatment Action Group; and the following regional hubs:

  • Kyrgyz State Medical Academy (Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan)
  • Walimu (Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania)
  • PHRU/Wits Health Consortium (South Africa, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe)
  • YRG Care (India and Bangladesh)
  • VICTORY Network (Vietnam, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia and the Philippines)

IVAC Deputy Director Rupali Limaye, PhD, MPH, will be leading IVAC’s SMART4TB efforts to better understand the factors behind licensing, adoption, and scale-up of new TB vaccines in the countries most affected by the disease.

“We have a great opportunity to build demand and strengthen health systems for new TB vaccines,” said Dr. Limaye. “Community engagement should be at the center of all vaccine preparatory and introduction activities, and this is an opportune moment to restore trust and confidence in vaccines and health systems before a vaccine rollout.”

Beyond its impact on morbidity and mortality, the introduction of novel TB vaccines will also mitigate the emerging threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and offer significant financial benefits, providing a strong return on investment for governments and averting catastrophic treatment costs for children and their families. Although there are currently several promising TB vaccines in the pipeline, it will take a significant global investment to push these vaccines through the final stages of clinical development.

Learn more about the promise of new TB vaccines on IVAC’s Value of Immunization Compendium of Evidence (VoICE).