The first-ever vaccine against malaria is all set to prevent hundreds and thousands of deaths!

▪ The hard fact

➡ Malaria causes >600,000 deaths annually, and >95% of those occur in Africa.

➡ 3 out of 4 of these victims are children under five years of age.

▪ The RTS,S/AS01 vaccine

➡ The first and only approved vaccine against malaria by WHO 

➡ Since 2019 (pilot programme), more than 1.7 million children have received the vaccine in Kenya, Ghana and Malawi

➡ Safe and effective in reducing the disease severity and death in children

The update

▪ Within the next two years, 18 million doses of this vaccine will be received in several regions of Africa highly affected by malaria.

In pipeline

▪ A second vaccine - R21/Matrix-M

➡ Developed by Oxford University and manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII)

➡ Meets the minimum criteria of the WHO with 77% efficacy against malaria

➡ Has been licensed for use in Ghana

➡ SII has the potential to manufacture 200 million doses annually

References:

1. https://www.gavi.org/news/media-room/18-million-doses-first-ever-malaria-vaccine-allocated-12-african-countries-2023 

2. https://www.who.int/news/item/06-10-2021-who-recommends-groundbreaking-malaria-vaccine-for-children-at-risk 

3. https://ourworldindata.org/malaria 

4. https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2023-04-13-r21matrix-m-malaria-vaccine-developed-university-oxford-receives-regulatory