Stop TB Partnership

Final child vaccinated in South African trial

28 April 2011 - Cape Town - The final baby has been vaccinated in the clinical trial of a candidate vaccine, MVA85A/Aeras-485. The trial was carried out in the Boland region of the Western Cape by the South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative (SATVI) of the University of Cape Town, in partnership with Aeras, the Oxford-Emergent Tuberculosis Consortium Ltd. and the Wellcome Trust.

"Our team has worked tremendously hard to vaccinate our target of 2784 babies in just under two years," said Dr Tameris, the Vaccine Trials Manager at the SATVI Worcester site."

The Phase llb trial is designed to test the safety of the vaccine in a large group of babies and to see whether it is effective in preventing TB. The vaccine has already been successfully tested for safety in smaller groups of babies.

Following vaccination, babies are monitored for about two years to see whether the new vaccine has provided protection against TB. The study is expected to run till mid 2012.