tedros announced the establishment of the TB Vaccine Accelerator Council at a high-level panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
During his opening speech, he stated that one of the most important lessons from the COVID-19 answer is this innovative health measures can be implemented quickly if politically prioritized and adequately funded: Despite their impact on human health, no new TB vaccine has been approved for a century.
“The challenges posed by TB and COVID-19 are different, but the ingredients are Accelerating science, research and innovation are the same: urgent upfront public investment; support through philanthropy; and engagement from the private sector and communities,” said Tedros. “We believe the TB field will benefit from similar high-level coordination.”
No slowdown
The new council aims to bring together funders, global agencies, governments and people living with TB to identify and overcome barriers to vaccine development.
TB, also known as tuberculosis, is caused by bacteria that primarily affect the lungs. It is spread through the air when someone who has TB coughs, sneezes, or spits.
The disease is both curable and preventable, but despite the global pledge to end TB by 2030, the epidemic shows no signs of slowing down, he says WHO.
In 2021, around 10.6 million contracted the disease and 1.6 million died from it. Drug resistance remains a major problem, with nearly half a million people contracting drug-resistant TB each year.
A single vaccine
Currently, the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine, developed in 1921, is the only approved TB vaccine. While BCG offers moderate efficacy in preventing severe forms of TB in infants and young children, it does not adequately protect adolescents and adults, who account for nearly 90 percent of TB transmissions worldwide.
WHO recently commissioned a study on investing in new TB vaccines, which estimates that a vaccine that is 50 percent effective in preventing disease in adolescents and adults could avert up to 76 million TB cases over 25 years.
Additionally, every dollar invested in a 50 percent effective vaccine could generate a $7 economic return in the form of avoided healthcare costs and increased productivity. In addition, approximately 8.5 million lives could be saved and $6.5 billion in costs to TB-affected households, particularly the poorest and most vulnerable.
Meanwhile, a vaccine that is 75 percent effective could prevent up to 110 million new TB cases and 12.3 million deaths.
The countries will convene later this year for a high-level UN meeting to review progress on commitments they made in a 2018 political declaration to tackle tuberculosis. The WHO described the event as an important opportunity to correct setbacks in the response to the virus, which includes the urgent development and delivery of new TB vaccines.
