Malaria Vaccine Hailed As ‘World Changing’

A new malaria vaccine developed at Oxford University has been hailed as world changing, according to the scientists who produced it.

The new jab could be rolled out as soon as next year after trials in Burkina Faso showed it to be 77 per cent effective in preventing the disease. While it is not the world’s first malaria vaccine – last year saw the World Health Organisation (WHO) agreeing to the use of a pioneering jab developed by GSK – it is cheaper to make and can be produced on a larger scale. 

It is set to be manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, which can produce 100 million doses a year.

By hitting 80 per cent resistance to infection in the higher adjuvant group and 70 per cent in the lower adjuvant group in the trials, it met the WHO criteria for 75 per cent efficacy. The vaccine will be chiefly aimed at young children, who are by far the most vulnerable to the disease.

While life science marketing can help pharmaceutical firms achieve strong profits from the roll-out of effective medications, this is by necessity not always through the use of expensive treatments. Low-cost medications that can be easily afforded by poorer countries or funded through international aid packages will often make a critical difference in health outcomes.

Hailing the potential impact of the vaccine, director of advocacy at Malaria No More UK Gareth Jenkins said: “Today’s R21 vaccine results from Oxford’s renowned Jenner Institute are another encouraging signal that, with the right support, the world could end child deaths from malaria in our lifetimes.”

Although anyone bitten by a malarial mosquito can catch the disease, figures for cases and mortality show how Africa and young children bear the brunt of its impact.

According to the WHO, in 2020 there were 241 million cases of the disease across the globe, with 627,000 deaths. 95 per cent of cases and 96 per cent of deaths occurred on Africa and 80 per cent of those dying in the region were children under the age of five.