The Gain in Antimalarial Vaccine

With reference my article ‘How Malaria is Practically Eradicated in Malaysia – A Reminiscence’ (AJRID, Jan 6, 2020), me seem to have left out writing on the present availability, role and impact of vaccines against malaria.

The only approved vaccine RTS,S, known by the trade name Mosquirix is launched in 2019 in a WHO-led implementation program piloting the vaccine, among children aged not more than 2 years, in three high-malaria countries in Africa. The vaccine has a relatively low efficacy at 26 – 50% - thus, the WHO do not recommend the vaccine in infants aged 6 to 12 weeks. It is given in 3 doses between 5 and 9 months of age and the fourth-dose at around 2 years old.

Said the WHO Director-General, ‘The malaria vaccine could save tens of thousands of children’s lives’.

In spite of the low-efficacy, the vaccine is safe and prevents 30% of severe malaria causing death and prevents 60% of cases of severe malaria anaemia, the most common reason children die from malaria.

The pilot-programme aim to reach around 360,000 children annually in the three country, focusing on areas with moderate-to-high malaria-transmission.

The programme is designed to provide evidence and experience toward WHO policy-recommendations on the wider use of the vaccine. The programme aim to monitor reductions in child deaths, vaccine-uptake, including whether parents are compliant.

The author find a need to write on the result of the Phase III Trial of the vaccine to be used, the RTS,S, beside outlining the basic on malaria-vaccine development.

Finally, the remaining vaccine(s) in development are talked on.