A Big Moment for the World’s Fight Against Malaria
By Preeti Singh, August 4, 2015
The world’s leading malaria vaccine candidate crossed another milestone in a 30-year journey when it received a positive assessment from the European Medicines Agency for its use in protecting young children in sub-Saharan Africa.
This is a tremendous scientific achievement. There has never before been a vaccine against a parasitic disease (in humans)—and one against malaria is urgently needed. The toll of this disease remains immense. There are nearly 200 million cases of malaria every year globally and more than 500,000 deaths, the vast majority in African children under the age of five.
The achievement was made possible through an innovative partnership forged by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) with the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative—in collaboration with African research centers—to develop a first-generation vaccine to help protect young children in sub-Saharan Africa against malaria.
GSK’s vaccine—RTS,S (trademarked as Mosquirix)—is not perfect. But data from clinical trials suggests that RTS,S, if deployed correctly, has the potential to prevent millions of cases of malaria in Africa, due to the burden of disease in the region.
To be clear, the wait for the vaccine is not yet over. Data about RTS,S is next going to the World Health Organization for a policy recommendation on where and how the vaccine is best deployed. And then several more steps remain after the WHO assessment, expected by November of this year, is complete. For example, global agencies need to decide if and how to help fund this vaccine and governments in Africa need to make their own decisions about how to implement the vaccine in their national immunization programs.
But while this vaccine wends its way on a path to becoming available on the ground, we can all still take a moment to marvel at how far it has come and the hope it embodies.
To learn more check out the following articles:
First malaria vaccine has been approved – PRI’s The World
The first malaria vaccine will not eradicate the disease yet—but will save millions of lives – Quartz Africa
World’s First Malaria Vaccine A Step Closer To Use On Babies – NPR/WBUR’s Here and Now
