The new Oxford University malaria vaccine has been approved by Ghana, making it the first nation in the world to do so.
Contrary to earlier attempts in the same field, the vaccination known as R21 appears to be extremely effective.
Trial data from preliminary studies in Burkina Faso showed the R21 vaccine was up to 80 per cent effective when given as three initial doses, and a booster a year later, BBC reports.
The vaccine is intended for use in children under the age of three.
The final trial data on the vaccine’s safety and efficacy, which is still not available to the public, was evaluated by Ghana’s drug authorities, who then opted to use it.
The World Health Organisation is also considering approving the vaccine. Malaria kills about 620,000 people each year, most of them young children.
It has been a massive, century-long, scientific undertaking to develop a vaccine that protects the body from the malaria parasite, BBC said.
It has been a massive, century-long, scientific undertaking to develop a vaccine that protects the body from the malaria parasite, BBC said.
However, it was underlined that the outcome of a larger experiment involving up to 5,000 children will determine whether or not the vaccine would be widely used.
These have yet to be properly released, despite being anticipated to occur towards the end of last year. However, several African governments and scientists have had access to them.
The WHO and other African nations are both researching the information.
Prof. Adrian Hill, director of the Jenner Institute at the University of Oxford, where the vaccine was developed, claims that African nations are saying “we’ll decide” after being shut out of the Covid-19 vaccine deployment during the pandemic.
He told me: “We expect R21 to make a major impact on malaria mortality in children in the coming years, and in the longer term [it] will contribute to the overall final goal of malaria eradication and elimination.”
The Serum Institute of India is preparing to produce between 100-200 million doses per year, with a vaccine factory being constructed in Accra, Ghana.
Each dose of R21 is expected to cost a couple of dollars.
According to Adar Poonawalla, CEO of the Serum Institute, “developing a vaccine to greatly impact this huge disease burden has been extraordinarily difficult.”
The first nation to approve the vaccine, Ghana, he continued, marks “a significant milestone in our efforts to combat malaria throughout the world.”
