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A better tuberculosis (TB) vaccine is needed as a tool to control this disease. One candidate — MVA85A, developed as a boost for bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) — is a recombinant strain of modified vaccinia Ankara virus expressing a TB protein, antigen 85A.
In a recent double-blind, phase IIb trial conducted in rural South Africa, investigators (2 of them employees of the vaccine manufacturer) enrolled healthy, HIV-negative, BCG-vaccinated infants aged 4 to 6 months to receive one intradermal dose of MVA85A or Candida skin-test antigen as placebo. Participants were followed every 3 months for vaccine safety and efficacy.
In the per-protocol population, 2% of 1399 vaccine recipients and 3% of 1395 controls developed TB during the follow-up peri…