Government announces changes to TB vaccinations

The BCG vaccination programme against tuberculosis is to be changed, Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson has announced.

The current vaccination programme, which is delivered through schools, is to be replaced with a programme of targeted vaccinations for those people at greatest risk of contracting TB.

Under the new programme, babies will be vaccinated against TB, along with older people most at risk from infection, such as those living in areas with a high rate of the disease or people whose parents or grandparents were born in a TB high prevalence country.

The new measures, which will be introduced from September, follows advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).

The BCG programme was first introduced in the 1950s, when 50,000 cases of TB were reported in the UK each year. However, the number of cases is now around 7,000 and, although they have increased overall since the early 1990s, cases now also tend to be concentrated in large cities and specific population groups.

Sir Liam said that the new measures reflected the changing patterns of TB infection and would help to better protect those who had a higher risk of contracting the disease. “Rates of the disease are now very low in many parts of the country and children living in these areas are at an extremely low risk of infection. However, in other areas, rates of TB are on the increase. The changes that we are implementing mean that we will target those children who are most likely to catch the disease earlier than they would have been identified through the schools programme.”

However, Dr John Moore-Gillon, Chair of the British Thoracic Society Joint TB Committee, warned: “A selective vaccination programme will need to be properly resourced so that those in high risk groups and areas continue to be protected from the disease. It is vital that every single penny of the funds freed up from abolition of universal BCG vaccination is diverted directly into other aspects of TB control such as our network of TB nurses. We would be very concerned if it just became lost in the general public health budget.”

Paul Sommerfield, Chair of TB Alert also added: “TB can never be fully controlled in the UK unless it is controlled worldwide. It is also imperative to continue research toward a more effective vaccine than BCG if TB is ever to be eradicated.”

(KMcA/GB)