New vaccine strategy to advance solutions for tuberculosis

Top scientific experts have published a global plan of action for developing critical vaccines to eliminate tuberculosis (TB). Published in a special issue of the journal, Tuberculosis, the strategic blueprint for TB vaccine development represents consensus reached by the TB vaccine community. The only currently existing vaccine, BacilleCalmette-Guérin (BCG), protects children from severe forms of TB in the first years of life, but it doesn’t prevent pulmonary TB in adolescents and adults. A vaccine also is needed to protect people with latent TB. Creating more effective, safe vaccines against TB is a task that no one country or organisation can do alone. The blueprint authors call for researchers, scientists, clinicians, advocates in endemic communities, vaccine manufacturers, and governments around the world to work together on creative new approaches from initial research in the laboratory to clinical trials in the field to global introduction.