The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended the use of the first malaria vaccine. The RTS-S vaccine, also known as Mosquirix, was developed by the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and has been administered to more than 800,000 children in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi since early 2019 in a pilot study.
Although the vaccine has limited efficacy, preventing 39 percent of malaria cases and 29 percent of severe malaria cases among children, a study conducted by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) found that concurrent administration on pediatric patients of RTS-S and the antimalarial drugs there is a 70 percent reduction in hospitalizations or deaths.
"I began my career as a malaria researcher and dreamed of the day when we would have an effective vaccine against this ancient and terrible disease. And today is that day, a historic day. Today WHO recommends the widespread use of the world's first malaria vaccine," WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference in Geneva.
"The use of this vaccine in addition to existing tools to prevent malaria could save tens of thousands of young lives each year. It is safe, significantly reduces severe and life-threatening malaria, and we estimate that it is highly cost-effective."
He added: "Malaria has been with us for millennia and the dream of a malaria vaccine has been a long held but unattainable dream. Today, the RTS-S malaria vaccine, more than 30 years in the making, changes the course of public health history. We still have a very long way to go but this is a long step on that road.".
Professor Sir Brian Greenwood of the LSHTM said, "The RTS-S vaccine does not provide complete protection, but this decision is testament to the drive and vision of the global health community to find a way forward. As part of a tailored approach, it has great potential to reduce death and disease in high-burden areas, especially when combined with other interventions such as seasonal malaria chemoprevention and mosquito nets, and be a huge boost to malaria control efforts."