Accelerating political readiness for access to TB vaccines (360G-Wellcome-351957_Z_26_Z)

Tuberculosis (TB) remains the world's leading infectious disease killer, yet the anticipated arrival of novel TB vaccines risks being undermined by political unpreparedness. This project, led by the Global TB Caucus, will map meaningful opportunities for parliamentarians to accelerate readiness for TB vaccine introduction and mobilise parliamentary leadership in a subset of priority countries. Working across up to 15 countries, the project comprises two packages of work. The first maps national and global policy landscapes, conducts stakeholder consultations with parliamentarians, ministries, regulators, civil society and affected communities, and establishes national expert panels to help validate findings. The second translates these findings into targeted political mobilisation, strengthening national TB Caucuses’ capacity to advocate on TB vaccine preparedness, strengthening national panels of experts, supporting regulatory and financing readiness, and equipping parliamentarians to champion TB vaccine uptake publicly. The project will contribute to the WHO End TB Strategy and complement the TB Vaccine Accelerator Council. It will generate a published framework of political levers for accelerating health innovation uptake, offering lessons applicable beyond TB. Keywords: tuberculosis, TB vaccines, parliamentary advocacy, political readiness, health policy, vaccine introduction, new tool introduction, preparedness, demand-generation, low- and middle-income countries, financing, regulatory pathways, global health innovation.