The RTS,S/AS01 vaccine is the first and, to date, the only vaccine to show partial protection against malaria in young children. In 2016, WHO recommended pilot implementation of the malaria vaccine as a complementary malaria control tool. Vaccinations through routine immunization programs began in selected areas of Ghana and Malawi in April 2019, and will soon begin in Kenya. Thirty years in the making, RTS,S is the first, and to date the only, vaccine that has demonstrated it can significantly reduce malaria in children. In clinical trials, the vaccine was found to prevent approximately 4 in 10 malaria cases, including 3 in 10 cases of life-threatening severe malaria. “Malaria is a constant threat in the African communities where this vaccine will be given. The poorest children suffer the most and are at highest risk of death,” said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa. “We know the power of vaccines to prevent killer diseases and reach children, including those who may not have immediate access to the doctors, nurses and health facilities they need to save them when severe illness comes.”
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The safety and efficacy of the RTS,S/AS01 vaccine has been evaluated in clinical studies, including a large Phase 3 clinical trial conducted between 2009 and 2014. The trial enrolled more than 15,000 young children and infants in seven sub-Saharan African countries, representing a range of malaria transmission settings. Among children aged 5–17 months who received 4 doses of RTS,S/AS01, the vaccine prevented approximately 4 in 10 (39%) cases of malaria over 4 years of follow-up and about 3 in 10 (29%) cases of severe malaria, with significant reductions also seen in overall hospital admissions and in admissions due to malaria or severe anaemia. The vaccine also reduced the need for blood transfusions, which are required to treat life-threatening severe malaria anaemia, by nearly 3 in 10 (29%). Malaria remains one of the world’s leading killers, claiming the life of one child every two minutes. Most of these deaths are in Africa, where more than 250,000 children die from the disease every year. Children under 5 are at greatest risk of its life-threatening complications. Worldwide, malaria kills 435,000 people a year, most of them children. “We have seen tremendous gains from bed nets and other measures to control malaria in the last 15 years, but progress has stalled and even reversed in some areas. We need new solutions to get the malaria response back on track, and this vaccine gives us a promising tool to get there,” said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “The malaria vaccine has the potential to save tens of thousands of children’s lives.” In selected areas in the three countries, the vaccine will be given in four doses: 3 doses between 5 and 9 months of age and the fourth dose provided around the 2nd birthday.
Tuesday August 13, 2019.
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