PLOS Medicine: Tuberculosis vaccines: Rising opportunities
Johan Vekemans, medical officer at the Initiative for Vaccine Research at the WHO; Katherine L. O’Brien, director of the WHO’s Department of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals; and Jeremy Farrar, director of Wellcome

“…[T]ransforming discovery and vaccine candidates into products that can have impact takes more than declarations of support. … Progress toward TB elimination will require vigorously pursuing the potential contribution of novel TB vaccines propelled by new evidence recently made available. Advocates working on TB as a major global health problem should lead decision-makers toward this realization. The possibility to transform the opportunities into action will be a test of the collective ability of the global health community to succeed in developing and using vaccines aimed at addressing diseases disproportionately affecting the poor. The world needs better operating models supporting prompt progress from vaccine efficacy proof-of-concept to evaluation for use and impact in support of policy decision and funding for implementation. A sense of responsibility toward global health from the corporate sector manufacturing vaccines is needed as well as from the public and philanthropic sector, through the setup of functional public-private partnerships supported by innovative funding mechanisms. Opportunities are rising in the search for tools to prevent TB; let us not squander this chance. Now is the time for mobilization toward vaccine impact against TB” (4/23).