Tuberculosis vaccines in the era of Covid-19 - what is taking us so long?
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Updated: Sep 27, 2025

Author Spotlight: Optimizing CFU Determination for Efficient Assessment of TB Vaccine Efficacy and Antigen Presentation Analysis
Published on: July 28, 2023
Hazel M Dockrell1, Helen McShane2
1Department of Infection Biology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London WCE 7HT, UK.
Abstract:
The Mycobacterium bovis BCG vaccine was first used in 1921, but has not controlled the global spread of tuberculosis (TB). There are still no new licensed tuberculosis vaccines, although there much active research and a vaccine development pipeline, with vaccines designed to prevent infection, prevent disease, or accelerate TB treatment. These vaccines are of different types, and designed to replace BCG, or to boost immunity following BCG vaccination. This viewpoint discusses why, when it has been possible to develop new vaccines for SARS-CoV-2 so quickly, it is taking so long to develop new tuberculosis vaccines.
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