Download: SATVI 20 year history

A history of the South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative

FOREWORD

SATVI celebrates 20 years of TB vaccine research on 26th March 2021, the anniversary of enrolment of the first participant in SATVI’s first TB vaccine trial, a randomised controlled trial of intradermal vs percutaneous BCG vaccination (Hawkridge BMJ 2008).

As global TB vaccine stakeholders plan for ambitious new efficacy trials in infants and adults, we reflect on SATVI’s contributions to the global TB vaccine development effort, including key epidemiological studies that laid the groundwork for development of new TB biomarkers, immunology studies of potential correlates of vaccinemediated protection against TB, a large implementation trial of infant BCG vaccination, the first infant trial of a novel TB vaccine candidate in the 50 years, and two pivotal efficacy trials of BCG and the subunit vaccine candidate M72/AS01_E. Our strong partnerships with the Breede Valley community, the Departments of both Health and Education, and our collaborators and funders have been critical to that effort.

Learning from this rich experience of TB research over two decades, which included valuable lessons from trials and tribulations as well as triumphs, has brought us closer to our vision – a world without TB.

Prof. Mark Hatherill
Director

PREFACE

20 year history

This SATVI History is the result of more than 20 interviews with SATVI staff and students, including many colleagues who have left, but are very much still part of the SATVI family. A small volunteer working group of SATVI historians set out to identify key events and to conduct the interviews with role players, a process that created a rich oral history of SATVI for our staff and students, our collaborators and the wider TB research community.
We hope that it will inspire the many unsung SATVI TB research heroes to record their own stories, continue the narrative, and build on the incredible institutional memory that sustains the SATVI Mission: Innovative and High Quality TB Vaccine Research in Africa to Impact the Global Epidemic.