Professor of MicrobiologyCarlos Martin Montanés and the rector of the University of Zaragoza, Rosa Bolea, announced this Thursday, December 11, that the largest world congress on the tuberculosis vaccine will bring together some 500 experts from 35 countries … in the Aragonese capital in April 2027. The ‘Global Forum on TB Vaccines’ chooses Spain for the first time to hold the main forum that debates one of the most important challenges that the world currently faces.
At the ‘Global Forum on TB Vaccines’ the state of science around the tuberculosis vaccine is debated, the latest advances from the international research community are shared and developments that bring closer the goal of a vaccine capable of contributing to the eradication of the disease are identified. Hosting this forum in Spain and, specifically, at the University of Zaragoza is an exceptional opportunity to host an exchange of scientific ideas between researchers from all over the world, both Dr. Martín and Rector Bolea have considered.
Spain is an international benchmark in vaccine research against tuberculosis thanks to the development of the MTBVAC vaccine, which is already in the final phases before its production and distribution, since it has reached Phase 3 clinical trials in newborns and Phases 2 and 2b in adolescents and adults in India and Africa. The final push in funding and trial results is missing.
In fact, the recognized and proven work in the fight against tuberculosis, led by the University of Zaragoza in collaboration with the Galician biotechnology company Biofabri, has been the key for Zaragoza to host the eighth ‘Global Forum’ on Tuberculosis Vaccines in 2027. In addition, the Aragonese capital has the determined support of the Ministries of Health and Science, Innovation and Universities, the Government of Aragon, the Zaragoza City Council and the Cortes of Aragon.
According to the institutional information provided, the Paraninfo of the University of Zaragoza will be the place where the sessions of this forum will take place, in which researchers, international organizations, civil society and the health industry will meet. The previous venues have been the following: the seventh in Rio de Janeiro (2024), before that in Toulouse (2022), New Delhi (2018), Shanghai (2015), Cape Town (2013), Tallinn (2010) and the initial one, sponsored by the WHO, in Geneva in 2001.
The rector of the University of Zaragoza, Rosa Bolea, has extolled the values that «Zaragoza combines scientific excellence, institutional commitment and cultural appeal and the next ‘Global Forum on TB Vaccines’, which will be hosted by the University of Zaragoza, will be a showcase of the capacity of our university, our region and our country to lead vaccine research and will also be a unique opportunity to strengthen international alliances in the fight against tuberculosis.”
For his part, the professor and researcher Carlos Martín Montañés has recalled that «Every year tuberculosis kills 1.2 million people, a figure similar to the entire population of Aragon« and added that the new tuberculosis vaccine is »a necessity and we must always defend the universal right to access to vaccines«. According to the doctor, progress in inoculation has cost a lot, more than three decades of research has been behind him, but he hopes to achieve results sooner rather than later.
