Coronavirus shook the world to its core after claiming nearly 1.8 million lives in 2020.
Yet there’s another disease that’s just as deadly and doesn’t dominate the headlines: tuberculosis.
CARLOS MARTÍN MONTAÑÉS
Researcher, University of Zaragoza (Spain)
“For more than 200 years tuberculosis has been claiming over one, two and even three million lives every year.”
Carlos Martín Montañés is a scientist who has spent the last 20 years developing a vaccine for Tuberculosis, known as the MTBVAC.
In this short meeting with Pope Francis in 2019, he told the Pope that the research for the vaccine was heading in the right direction, but that everyone’s support is still needed to measure its efficacy as soon as possible.
As a disease primarily afflicting underdeveloped nations, the push to develop a new tuberculosis vaccine has been underwhelming.
CARLOS MARTÍN MONTAÑÉS
Researcher, University of Zaragoza (Spain)
“We’ve been at it for 20 years. The difference being that work on the Covid vaccines began last February and that they were already approved for widespread use in December. So, I think we have a double standard in Western countries. When something affects us closely, we are able to react very quickly, but it’s different when something is going on far away.”
Dr. Montañés has already developed a new vaccine that is safe for human use. Animal trials have proven that it protects against respiratory tract infections.
It has been shown to safely trigger an immune response in young children and adults, and its efficacy in protecting infants will be tested in the coming months.
According to Dr. Montañés, it will take six months to finalize the approval process.
The current BCG vaccine is administered to 90 percent of newborns worldwide. But it doesn’t protect against the pulmonary forms of the disease which are responsible for its transmission.
CARLOS MARTÍN MONTAÑÉS
Researcher, University of Zaragoza (Spain)
“If this vaccine works as well as we think it will, thousands of lives will be saved every month that people are vaccinated. It’s very hopeful, but we need the support of many people.”
March 24th is World Tuberculosis Day. The date commemorates the day in 1882 when Robert Koch discovered the bacteria that causes the disease in humans.
One of the UN sustainable development goals is to eradicate the disease globally by 2030.
It’s an ambitious goal, and one that’s only possible with everyone’s support.
JMB
