Dr Sachdeva agrees: "We will have to take along other stakeholders to help improve the acceptance of a possible new TB vaccine (currently under research) and scale up its uptake in the targeted populations. An important element for the roll out of new TB vaccine will be capacity building of the healthcare providers and the community. Lessons learned from COVID-19 vaccination will go a long way to reduce vaccine hesitancy to a large extent in the rollout of any new vaccine for TB or any other disease in the future."
Not only was the TB programme adversely impacted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but there was also a decline of TB funding from US$ 5.8 billion to US$ 5.3 billion, which resulted in a drop in the number of children who got BCG shots.
If we are to end TB, we must stop neglecting TB prevention - be it infection control or other measures that reduce risk of getting active TB disease. A safe and effective TB vaccine for all age groups is an important cog-in-the-wheel of the TB combination prevention cascade.
Ode Uduu, Shobha Shukla, Bobby Ramakant
(Ode Uduu is a Data Journalist with DataPhyte in Nigeria, and Shobha Shukla and Bobby Ramakant are part of the editorial team of CNS (Citizen News Service) in India. Ode, Shobha and Bobby are among the Fellows of inaugural Public Health Reporting Corps in India and Nigeria facilitated by Population Reference Bureau - PRB. Follow them on Twitter: @UduuOde, @Shobha1Shukla, @BobbyRamakant)
- Shared under Creative Commons (CC)
Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
