A trial of the M72/AS01E tuberculosis vaccine is running ahead of schedule and could report results within the next year, according to an analysis published by Spotlight.
The trial, launched in March 2024, would deliver the first new tuberculosis vaccine to reach the market in more than a century if the candidate succeeds.
Russell Rensburg, Divisional Director of the Rural Health Advocacy Project, wrote that the Serum Institute of India agreed in July to prepare for large-scale production ahead of results, a step intended to shorten the gap between approval and availability.
South Africa accounts for about 54,000 of the 1.2 million tuberculosis deaths recorded globally, a disproportionate share for a country of 63 million people.
Rensburg argued that regulatory approval and procurement will not be sufficient on their own, and that health departments should begin engaging health workers, civil society, tuberculosis survivors and community leaders now.
“Trust cannot be manufactured through a communications campaign launched three months before rollout,” he wrote, adding that whether the vaccine changes South Africa’s tuberculosis trajectory “will be decided in our communities”.
Why it matters: A first new TB vaccine in a century would land first in South Africa, which carries an outsized share of global tuberculosis deaths.
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