Malaria vaccine is a vaccine that prevents malaria that is spread by mosquito bites. A completely effective vaccine for malaria is not available. Although many malaria vaccines are under process but not approved, only R21 has been an approved option so far.
This vaccine can be brought next year when it will show up to 80% protection against this disease. Scientists say that their vaccine is very cheap and they already have a deal to manufacture 100 million vaccines in a year.
It has taken more than a century to develop an effective vaccine for malaria, which is spread by mosquito bites.
Last year, the World Health Organization (WHO) granted historic approval for the first vaccine of malaria developed by pharmaceutical giant GSK to be used in Africa.
However, the Oxford team says that their approach is more effective and can be started on a greater scale.
Its trial has been done on 409 children in Nanoro, Burkina Faso and its results have been published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases. In this, three doses are given in starting and after one year booster dose is given, which gives up to 80% protection.
Prof Adrian Hill, director of the Jenner Institute at the university said “ We think these data are the best data yet in the field with any malaria vaccine,”
“This is a historic moment. The long-awaited malaria vaccine for children is a breakthrough for science, child health and malaria control,” said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “Using this vaccine on top of existing tools to prevent malaria could save tens of thousands of young lives each year.”
The team will begin the process of getting its approval for the vaccine in the next few weeks, but the final decision will depend on the results of a larger trial of 4,800 children before the end of the year.
The world’s largest vaccine manufacture – the Serum Institute of India – is already set to make 100 million vaccine in a year
This malaria vaccine R21 is effective in its initial trials with 77% efficacy. This is the first vaccine that completes the WHO ( World Health Organization) goal with at least 75% efficacy. For the development of this vaccine there is a collaboration involving the University of Oxford, The Kenya Medical Research Institute, and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Novavax, and Serum Institute of India.
Prof Hill said that the malaria vaccine called R21, could be made for “a few dollars” and “we really could be looking at a very substantial reduction in that horrendous burden of malaria”.
He added: “We hope that this will be deployed and available and save lives, certainly by the end of next year.”
Malaria has been one of the biggest problems for humanity for hundreds of years, and mostly kills infants and small babies. After the use of mosquito nets, insecticides, and other mosquito protected creames, malaria disease still kills more than 400,000 people a year,
So, scientists said that this new malaria vaccine R21, after the approval of WHO, Will change the world by eliminating the causes of malaria
Sources:
Malaria Vaccine
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaria_vaccine
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