The most advanced tuberculosis vaccine in 90 years failed to boost protection against the deadly disease when added to the shot given routinely to children, in a setback to the quest for global TB control.
In a study among 2,797 babies in South Africa, those who received the experimental MVA85A vaccine in addition to the standard Bacille Calmette-Guerin shot were no less likely to become infected with the TB bacterium or develop the disease after three years than those who only got the BCG vaccine, researchers from the University of Oxford and the University of Cape Town wrote in The Lancet journal Monday.
The findings deal a blow to researchers looking for a new TB vaccine to improve on BCG, which was introduced in 1921 and is only partially effective against the world’s second-biggest infectious killer.