Impact and cost-effectiveness of new tuberculosis vaccines in low- and middle-income countries

  • 05/10/2014

  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

To aid in prioritizing the development of tuberculosis (TB) vaccines most likely to reach the 2050 TB elimination goal, we estimated the impact and cost-effectiveness of a range of vaccine profiles in low- and middle-income countries. Using mathematical modeling, we show that vaccines targeted at adolescents/adults could have a much greater impact on the TB burden over a 2024–2050 time horizon than those vaccines targeted at infants. Such vaccines could also be cost-effective, even with relatively high vaccine prices. Our results suggest that to achieve the 2050 elimination goals, future TB vaccine development should focus on vaccines targeted at adolescents/adults, even if only relatively low efficacies and short durations of protection are technically feasible.