WEF Davos 2023: India all set to deliver global plan for TB vaccines by 2025, says health minister Mansukh Mandaviya

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has told a gathering at the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2023 in Davos that India is all set to table the global plan for approving a new TB vaccine by 2025, which will be available for adults and adolescents in all affected nations.  

Addressing the session ‘Ending Tuberculosis’, Mandaviya said: “Just as coronavirus vaccines were a game-changer in the battle against Covid-19, Global Plan calls for approving a new TB vaccine by 2025 and making it available to adults and adolescents in TB-affected nations.” 

Earlier during the WEF session, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization (WHO), said that the global health body is planning to speed up the licensing and use of novel vaccines against tuberculosis (TB) and the creation of the TB Vaccine Accelerator Council. 

Mandaviya, who also heads the ‘Stop TB Partnership Board’, said he has an additional responsibility toward TB management efforts globally. “Full implementation of the global plan developed by Stop TB Partnership requires US$250 billion in the next 8 years, the equivalent of just US$4 per person, per year worldwide,” he said.  

He said that this would mean an economic return of $40 for every dollar invested. He added the importance of ensuring sufficient funds for the initiative as we would end up paying a much higher price later.  

WHO’s TB Vaccine Accelerator Council 

The WHO on Tuesday announced the setting up of the TB Vaccine Accelerator Council, which will include funders, global agencies, governments, and those with TB, in identifying and overcoming barriers to vaccine development. 

Speaking about the development, Tedros said: “The challenges presented by TB and COVID-19 are different, but the ingredients that accelerate science, research, and innovation are the same: urgent, up-front public investment; support from philanthropy; and engagement of the private sector and communities.”  

He also noted that one of the most important lessons from the COVID-19 response is that innovative health interventions can be delivered quickly if they are prioritised politically and financed sufficiently. Therefore, in order to speed up the licensing and use of vaccines against TB.  

He noted that there is only one licensed vaccine for TB, which is the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine, developed in 1921. Notably, no new TB vaccines have been licensed in a century despite how adversely the disease has impacted human health.  

According to the UN agency, TB remains the second leading infectious killer after COVID-19 and the 13th leading cause of death worldwide.  

It is also both curable and preventable but even with global commitments to end the disease by 2030, the epidemic has shown no signs of slowing down, said WHO. In 2021, over 10 million people were infected with the disease.  

(With agency inputs)

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