Experts believe the vaccine can “change the rules of the game,” but it shouldn’t be the only solution
MADRID, January 17 (EUROPA PRESS) –
World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has announced the creation of a new Tuberculosis Vaccine Accelerator Council modeled after COVID-19 when a fully developed vaccine was successfully developed in just one year.
As Tedros pointed out during the conference “Ending tuberculosis: how to achieve it?”, held this Tuesday as part of the activities of the World Economic Forum in Davos (Switzerland), this council will facilitate the approval and use of new vaccines against tuberculosis. “Accelerating coordination among funders, global agencies, governments and patients to identify and overcome barriers to tuberculosis vaccine development.”
“One of the most important lessons learned from the response to the COVID-19 pandemic is that innovative health interventions can be implemented rapidly when given political priority and adequately funded. The challenges presented by tuberculosis and COVID-19 are different, but the ingredients accelerating science, research and innovation are the same: urgent and early public investment, support through philanthropy, and private sector and community engagement. We believe the TB space will benefit from similar high-level coordination,” said Tedros.
No new tuberculosis vaccine has been approved for 100 years. In fact, BCG is currently the only approved vaccine against the disease. Although moderately effective in preventing severe forms of tuberculosis in infants and young children, it does not adequately protect adolescents and adults, who account for about 90 percent of cases worldwide.
However, prospects for new effective vaccines against tuberculosis have improved in recent years, with at least 16 vaccine candidates in the development phase, Tedros recalled.
The WHO supreme leader has reiterated that many of the tuberculosis vaccines being studied were pre-pandemic candidates, but that “the whole world was focused on finding a vaccine for COVID-19, so its acceleration has been accelerated.” while some types of tuberculosis have been developing for decades.
That’s why Tedros has called for “a renewed commitment and a sense of urgency” to speed up the tuberculosis vaccine. “It can be developed. If it was made for COVID-19, it’s clear it can be for tuberculosis too. If we use the lessons of COVID-19, it is possible,” he stressed.
THE VACCINE “WOULD CHANGE THE RULES OF THE GAME”, BUT IT’S NOT ENOUGH
A study commissioned by the WHO in December 2022 estimated that a vaccine with 50 percent effectiveness in preventing tuberculosis in adolescents and adults in 25 years could result in up to 76 million new cases, 8.5 million deaths, 42 million antibiotic treatments and 6,500 million dollars (€6,023 million) in costs to households affected by tuberculosis, particularly the poorest and most vulnerable.
With an effectiveness of 75 percent, up to 110 million new cases of tuberculosis and 12.3 million deaths could be avoided. The study also suggests that every euro invested in a vaccine that is 50 percent effective could generate an economic return of €6 in avoided healthcare costs and increased productivity.
Both Indian Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and Philippine Congresswoman Gloria Macapagal Arroyo agree that the tuberculosis vaccine could be a “game changer”. “Just as vaccines have been critical in the fight against COVID-19, we advocate for a new TB vaccine to be approved by 2025 and made available to adults and adolescents in TB-affected countries. India is fully ready and at an advanced stage to move forward,” Mandaviya said.
Similarly, the director of the organization Wellcome Trust, Jeremy Farrar, has defended that the tuberculosis vaccine “would change the rules of the game”, but he has reiterated that they must be accompanied by other tools such as diagnostic tests or health systems “efficient”. .
Farrar has affirmed that “for the first time” in his career he feels this decade can bring “a real change” in the fight against tuberculosis, but he has urged not to wait for the vaccine. “We don’t know when we’ll have it. Vaccines will change the game, but when integrated into a whole,” he added.
TUBERCULOSIS, “THE DISEASE OF THE POOR”
In 2021, more than 10 million people contracted tuberculosis. Although tuberculosis is a preventable and curable disease, approximately 1.5 million people die from tuberculosis each year, making it the leading infectious cause of death worldwide.
In its annual report published in October, the WHO warned of a 4.5 percent increase in tuberculosis cases in 2021 compared to 2020 due to the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 10.6 million people fell ill and 1.6 million died (including 187,000 HIV-positive).
Tuberculosis is caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis and usually affects the lungs. It is spread through the air when people with pulmonary tuberculosis cough, sneeze, or spit. A person only needs to breathe in a few germs to become infected.
Tuberculosis is the leading cause of death in people living with HIV and is also a major cause of antibiotic resistance.
Most people who get TB live in low- and middle-income countries, but it is common around the world. About half of the people with this disease live in 8 countries: Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and South Africa.
As a result of this data, Tedros has denounced that tuberculosis is “the disease of the poor” while rich countries, where it is practically a witness, do not devote enough resources or attention.
“It seems that it is not the rich countries’ problem. It’s a pattern we’ve seen over and over again. When Ebola reached the borders of rich countries in 2014, the whole world went mad with just one case of COVID-19 having the same reaction. When will we stop this behavior? Tuberculosis must be a global problem. The world should start helping all of humanity because we are one big family,” he argued.
In line with this, the executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Peter Sands, has chastised rich countries for the lack of progress in the fight against this disease: “We should be ashamed. It’s a disease that’s been around for a while and we’ve shown it can be eradicated, but we’ve allowed millions of people in poor countries to continue to get sick and die.”
On a positive note, Sands has pointed out that there has been a perceived increase in “political will” against tuberculosis in recent years. “We have a new generation of tools, the hope of a vaccine, we have better medicines for drug-resistant tuberculosis… But I fear that having better tools will not be enough unless we are determined,” he stressed.