Global forum takes stock of progress on new TB vaccines for adults and adolescents

29 April 2026

Departmental update

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Participants at a technical summit on progress to accelerate availability of and access to novel tuberculosis (TB) vaccines for adults and adolescents reviewed activities underway through the TB Vaccine Accelerator working groups and other initiatives.

The TB Vaccine Accelerator Forum, hosted by WHO in Geneva from 27-28 April, brought together global, regional and country-level health leaders, funders, vaccine developers, TB advocates and other partners to reinforce the public health need for and potential impact of this new class of TB vaccines and explore further collaboration. At this time, several clinical trials for new TB vaccines remain on track to deliver efficacy results, including some within the next two years.

TB Vaccine Accelerator Forum - 2026

TB remains the world’s top infectious killer. Each year, over 10 million people fall ill from TB, and more than 1 million die from the disease. Despite TB’s devasting global impact, no new vaccines have been licensed in over a century. Safe, effective, affordable and accessible TB vaccines, particularly for adults and adolescents, are urgently needed to transform the global TB response.

“For the first time in over a century, new, effective TB vaccines for adults and adolescents are within reach that have the potential to drive down illness and deaths and generate significant savings for health systems and households alike,” said Dr Jeremy Farrar, WHO Assistant Director-General for Health Promotion, Disease Prevention and Care, in his opening remarks at the Forum.

“The promising new TB vaccines exemplify the life-saving power of vaccines for every generation – which is particularly apt as we mark World Immunization Week and highlight how immunization protects people of all ages against vaccine-preventable diseases,” he said.

This was the first joint meeting of the Accelerator’s three working groups to review the status of TB vaccine preparedness and the Accelerator’s achievements across all activities since the initiative was launched by WHO in January 2023.

Moderated panel discussions and open dialogue aimed to create alignment across diverse stakeholders, foster collaboration and identify remaining research and evidence gaps from development to uptake, so new TB vaccines reach at-risk populations, faster.

Meeting highlights

Launch of country preparedness community of practice

An online community of practice for countries interested in adopting novel TB vaccines and partners was launched on the first day of the Forum. The online hub is part of efforts to support countries in preparing for TB vaccine introduction and enable strong community participation and uptake. The platform gives countries and partners a way to share resources and experiences in support of evidence-based decision-making, strengthened delivery approaches, and community partnerships for timely and equitable rollout. The platform is a collaborative effort of WHO and IAVI, hosted by the online community of the Stop TB Partnership Working Group on New TB Vaccines.

This resource builds on activities that included the December 2025 launch of a working group that focuses on country readiness, advocacy and community partnerships for new TB vaccines. Regional and country consultations in high-burden areas such as Indonesia and South Africa were held in 2024 and 2025 respectively, with more country workshops planned in Brazil and Kenya this year.

Status of TB vaccine development and preparation for global policy

A status update on two vaccine candidates in late-stage clinical development that are intended for global use, M72/AS01E and MTBVAC, was provided by their developers. The scientific update was followed by a panel discussion that aimed to achieve a common understanding of the assumptions, risks and potential scenarios for novel TB vaccines to advance from clinical trials to licensure global and national policy development, country decision making for introduction, and country implementation. Based on recent consultation with WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE), clinical research gaps to support global policy recommendations and country adoption decisions were discussed by the WHO Technical Advisory Group (TAG) for new TB vaccines.

Finance and access priorities

Following the launch in 2025 of the WHO report “Catalyzing solutions for equitable global access and sustainable financing for novel tuberculosis vaccines for adults and adolescents,” the finance and access working group reported that it is moving forward to develop and design urgently needed solutions to ensure timely, equitable and sustainable access to novel TB vaccines. Further efforts will move forward through taskforces focusing on:

catalytic market shaping and innovative financing mechanisms;
early economic evidence to inform demand and financing decisions;
global financing mapping to identify resource gaps; and
regional vaccine manufacturing for novel TB vaccines.

Next steps

Reflections and recommendations from the Forum will be further discussed at the annual convening of the TB Vaccine Accelerator Council on 19 May 2026 on the sidelines of the Seventy-ninth World Health Assembly. A report of the meeting outcomes will be published in the second quarter of 2026.