The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday the only approved vaccine against malaria should be widely given to African children, potentially marking a major advance against a disease that kills hundreds of thousands of people annually.
The WHO recommendation is for RTS,S - or Mosquirix - a vaccine developed by British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKlineSince 2019, 2.3 million doses of Mosquirix have been administered to infants in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi in a large-scale pilot programme coordinated by the WHO. The majority of those whom the disease kills are aged under five."This is a vaccine developed in Africa by African scientists and we're very proud," said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
The WHO says 94% of malaria cases and deaths occur in Africa, a continent of 1.3 billion people. The preventable disease is caused by parasites transmitted to people by the bites of infected mosquitoes; symptoms include fever, vomiting and fatigue. Another vaccine against malaria, developed by scientists at Britain's University of Oxford and called R21/Matrix-M, showed up to 77% efficacy in a year-long study involving 450 children in Burkina Faso, researchers said in April, but it is still in the trial stages."This long-awaited landmark decision can reinvigorate the fight against malaria in the region at a time when progress on malaria control has stalled," Thomas Breuer, Chief Global Health Officer, said in a statement.
GSK has to date committed to produce 15 million doses of Mosquirix annually, in addition to the 10 million doses donated to the WHO pilot programmes, up to 2028 at a cost of production plus no more than 5% margin. "As we've seen from the COVID vaccine, where there is political will, there is funding available to ensure that vaccines are scaled to the level they are needed," said Kate O’Brien, Director of WHO’s Department of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals.
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