WHO Recommends First Malaria Vaccine

The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended the first malaria vaccine for widespread use in children.

This recommendation follows the preliminary results of a pilot study, The Malaria Vaccine Implementation Programme, on the safety and usability of the RTS,S/AS01 vaccine. The ongoing study utilized data on 2 years of vaccination in more than 800,000 children from Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi. The study will continue to evaluate the need of a fourth vaccine dose, as well as to measure long-term impact of the vaccine.

The RTS,S/AS01 vaccine is administered in 4 doses to children in sub-Saharan Africa and other areas of moderate to high Plasmodium falciparum malaria transmission from 5 months of age.

“This is a historic moment. The long-awaited malaria vaccine for children is a breakthrough for science, child health and malaria control,” said General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, who is the director of WHO. “Using this vaccine on top of existing tools to prevent malaria could save tens of thousands of young lives each year.”

—Leigh Precopio

Reference:

WHO recommends groundbreaking malaria vaccine for children at risk. News release. World Health Organization; October 6, 2021. Accessed October 7, 2021. https://www.who.int/news/item/06-10-2021-who-recommends-groundbreaking-malaria-vaccine-for-children-at-risk