A British-developed vaccine is to become the world’s second vaccine against malaria, the World Health Organization has announced.
The R21/Matrix-M vaccine has been developed at the University of Oxford and the Serum Institute of India.
Researchers say the vaccine has shown “high efficacy” in trials.
It has so far been tested on 4,800 children in Burkina Faso, Kenya, Mali and Tanzania. With the use of a booster, it achieved 74% efficacy over 18 months, developers said.
Developers say it seems to be most effective in the youngest infants where significant development of antibodies has been found.
Professor Sir Adrian Hill, director of The Jenner Institute, and Professor Lakshmi Mittal said in a joint statement: “The R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine has been shown to be safe and highly effective across multiple clinical studies and is now approved as WHO policy for widespread use. The vaccine is easily deployable, cost effective and affordable, ready for distribution in areas where it is needed most, with the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives a year.”
Many African countries plan to begin malaria immunisation programmes next year using one of the two vaccines that are now approved.
WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “As a malaria researcher, I used to dream of the day we would have a safe and effective vaccine against malaria. Now we have two.
“Demand for the RTS,S vaccine far exceeds supply, so this second vaccine is a vital additional tool to protect more children faster, and to bring us closer to our vision of a malaria-free future.”
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