India may get first adult Tuberculosis vaccine within a year

Pune-based Serum Institute of India is at the helm of making this vaccine

In a big step in India’s war against tuberculosis (TB), an adult TB vaccine might be available to everyone within a year.

Government sources have confirmed that a recombinant Bacille Calmette-Guérin (rBCG) vaccine will be available in India, and Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) is at the helm of making this vaccine, a Business Standard report said.

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A senior government official has informed that the rBCG vaccine might be available for adults in India within a year.

“SII is working on the rBCG vaccine. The Phase 3 clinical trials on adults are on. The data may be unblended soon,” the official said, according to the report.

This move is seen as a successful attempt at achieving India's Tuberculosis elimination drive by 2025.

“Around 30 per cent of the population already has the TB bacteria in their bodies. The bacteria start to multiply in immunocompromised individuals. If nutrition balance is maintained, there is only a 10 per cent chance in one’s lifetime to contract the TB disease,” said Raghuram Rao, additional deputy director general, central TB division, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

India already administers BCG vaccine to infants below a year old. However there is no vaccination for adults at the moment.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is conducting a Phase 3 clinical trial of the rBCG vaccine on 12,000 participants of age on or below six years. ICMR is yet to submit the clinical trial data.

The TB infection doesn’t give immunity to the person from getting the infection again, so virologists need to be thorough regarding how effective the vaccine is against such a disease before making it available for everybody.

These measures are more crucial for India as it saw a 19 per cent rise in TB cases in 2021 over the previous year.