Strep A Vaccine Global Consortium 2.0: Paving a path for development of a Strep A vaccine

A Strep A vaccine remains out of reach, and a global consortium is now working to clear the path for one. The bacterium *Streptococcus pyogenes* (Strep A) causes everything from sore throats to life-threatening sepsis and rheumatic heart disease, yet no licensed vaccine exists. The problem is not just scientific—it is also a lack of coordinated data, industry interest, and regulatory readiness. The Strep A Vaccine Global Consortium (SAVAC 2.0) aims to fill those gaps over four years. The consortium will run three parallel workstreams. First, it will gather missing epidemiological, economic, and societal data while building surveillance and trial capacity at sentinel sites in low- and middle-income countries. Second, it will engage vaccine developers and manufacturers to make the business case for a Strep A vaccine and identify barriers slowing the pipeline. Third, it will work with organisations such as the WHO, national policymakers, and expert committees to address implementation hurdles. If successful, SAVAC 2.0 will not itself produce a vaccine. Instead, it will create the infrastructure, evidence, and stakeholder alignment needed for others to develop and deploy one. That could eventually prevent hundreds of thousands of deaths each year from rheumatic heart disease and invasive infections, particularly in regions where Strep A is most devastating.