India to deliver global plan for TB vaccines by 2025, says health minister

Addressing a session amid the ongoing World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting, 2023 in Davos, Switzerland on ‘Ending Tuberculosis’, the Indian Health Minister, Mansukh Mandaviya, said that New Delhi extends its full support for a global plan for approving a new TB vaccine by 2025. Similarly, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also announced plans to speed up the licensing and use of novel vaccines against tuberculosis (TB) and the creation of the TB Vaccine Accelerator Council, on Tuesday (January 17).

“Just as vaccines were a game-changer in the battle against COVID, Global Plan calls for approving a new TB vaccine by 2025 and making it available to adults and adolescents in TB-affected nations,” said Mandaviya, as per PTI. He added, “India is fully prepared and in an advanced stage for taking this forward.” The Indian Health minister also noted how more than 1.6 million across the world lost their lives because of TB in 2021 and it was the leading cause of death from infectious diseases before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Initiatives taken by the Indian governmentto fight TB

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The health minister also spoke about how under the leadership of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi the country has been at the forefront of the global fight against TB including the recently launched ‘Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan’. The campaign of community engagement aims to provide nutritional diagnostic and vocational support to TB patients delivered through the community, said Mandaviya.

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The initiative has also already seen over 50,000 Ni-kshay Mitras adopting over 1.3 million TB patients, said the health minister. He added, “We have taken several initiatives to intensify case finding, ensure medicine supply including tele consultation services to every TB patient.” In 2021, the Modi government said they aim to eliminate TB from India by 2025.

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

This would deliver an economic return of US$40 for every dollar invested, the Indian health minister added. He also reiterated the importance of ensuring sufficient funds for the initiative as we would end up paying a much higher price later.

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WHO launches ‘TB Vaccine Accelerator Council’

Director-General of the WHO, Tedros also addressed the ongoing WEF in Davos and 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 how one of the most important lessons from the COVID-19 response is that innovative health interventions can be delivered fast if they are prioritized politically and financed sufficiently. Therefore, in order to speed up the licensing and use of vaccines against TB Tedros announced the TB Vaccine Accelerator Council. The council will include funders, global agencies, governments and those with TB, in identifying and overcoming barriers to vaccine development, said the UN.

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As of today, 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. Additionally, the global health agency also noted, drug resistance continues to be a major problem with at least half a million people developing drug-resistant TB every year.

(With inputs from agencies)

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