malaria vaccine - The African Mirror

Oct

2023

By GABRIELLE TÉTRAULT-FARBER and LEROY LEO

WHO recommends malaria vaccine that will be rolled out next year

THE World Health Organization (WHO) recommended the use of a second malaria vaccine to curb the life-threatening disease spread to humans by some mosquitoes. "Almost exactly two years ago, WHO recommended the broad use of the world's first malaria vaccine called RTS,S," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a briefing in Geneva. "Today, it gives me great pleasure to announce that WHO is recommending a second vaccine called R21/Matrix-M to prevent malaria in children at risk of the disease." R21/Matrix-M, developed by Britain's University of Oxford, will become available by mid-2024, Tedros said, adding that doses would cost between $2…

Apr

2023

By The African Mirror

Ghana first to approve Oxford’s malaria vaccine

HEALTH

NATALIE GROVER and JENNIFER RIGBY GHANA has become the first country in the world to approve a new malaria vaccine from Oxford University, a potential step forward in fighting a disease that kills hundreds of thousands of children each year. The approval is unusual as it comes before the publication of final-stage trial data. It is unclear when the vaccine may be rolled out in Ghana as other regulatory bodies, including the World Health Organization (WHO), are still assessing its safety and effectiveness. "The WHO can provide support, but it is not an approving institution. The FDA has the mandate…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

New malaria vaccine proves highly effective – and COVID shows how quickly it could be deployed

HEALTH

CORONAVIRUS vaccines have been developed and deployed in record time, but as global rollout has progressed, too few doses have been made available in low-income countries. It’s a stark reminder that when it comes to infectious diseases, the world’s poorest often get left behind. ADRIAN HILL, Director of the Jenner Institute, University of Oxford This is a problem that extends far beyond COVID-19. In Africa, for example, malaria has probably caused four times as many deaths as COVID-19 over the past year. Thankfully, our new research shows that an effective vaccine against malaria could now be closer than ever before.…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

New malaria vaccine shows promise

NEWS

KATE KELLAND A potential new malaria vaccine has proved highly effective in a trial in babies in Africa, pointing to it one day possibly helping reduce the death toll from the mosquito-borne disease that kills up to half a million young children a year. The candidate vaccine, developed by scientists at Britain's University of Oxford and called R21/Matrix-M, showed up to 77% efficacy in the year-long trial of 450 children in Burkina Faso, researchers leading the trial said in a statement. The scientists, led by Adrian Hill, director of Oxford's Jenner Institute and also one of the lead researchers behind…