We were able to video tape the third young patient to be put on a clinical trial for an investigatory TB vaccine that researchers hope will help eliminate the disease that affects so many lives around the world.  The trial of over 2,700 patients is being conducted entirely at a special clinic in Worcester, South Africa.

The trial is placebo controlled and double blind, so that even the doctor does not know if the patient is getting the vaccine.  All children in South Africa get the Bacille Calmett-Guerin (BCG) vaccine just hours after birth, but the BCG vaccine is known to not protect everyone.  And it was developed 90 years ago.  This vaccine is the first new candidate for infants.

Dr. Michele Tameris, clinical manager of the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative (SATVI) is interviewed and explains that the vaccine could not be developed without biotechnology.

UCT, the Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation, Oxford Univeristy, the Oxford-Emergent Tuberculosis Consortioum Ltd., and the WellcomeTrust are partners in the study, which is expected to be completed in 2012 when researchers hope to see additional immunity in the young patients receiving the vaccine.  Worcester is the ideal location because it has a high TB rate and the geography and social conditions make it less likely that families will move far.