Join our daily newsletter At The Bell to receive exclusive market insights
- The first malaria vaccine is approved by the World Health Organisation
- The vaccination will be used across Africa where the preventable disease killed more than a quarter of a million children in 2019
- Africa accounts for 94 per cent of global malaria-related deaths in 2019
- With roughly 750 children under five dying every day from this preventable disease, GSK assured WHO 15 million doses will be available annually
The first malaria vaccine has been approved by the World Health Organisation and will be used across Africa where the preventable disease killed more than a quarter of a million children in 2019.
World Health Organization (WHO) data from 2019 showed 67 per cent of the global deaths from malaria are children under the age of five.
British drug producer GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) made the RTS,S or Mosquirix vaccine and administered the vaccination to 2.3 million infants across Ghana, Kenya and Malawi as part of its trial.
In a statement from GSK, they said combining the vaccination with antimalarials showed significant promise.
“In combination with seasonal administration of antimalarials, lowers clinical episodes of malaria, hospital admissions with severe malaria, and deaths by around 70%,” GSK said.
With roughly 750 children under five dying every day from this preventable disease, GSK assured WHO 15 million doses will be available annually.
WHO said more than half the global population is at risk of contracting the disease, with Africa accounting for 94 per cent of the global cases in 2019.
The vaccination comes at a time when other risks such as COVID-19 have put the same body of people at higher risk, 212,000 people have died from the coronavirus and 386,000 people have died from malaria in the past 18 and 12 months respectively.
Vaccination breakdown
This vaccine uses certain antigens from the malaria-carrying female Anopheles mosquito.
This type of vaccine is called a subunit vaccination and can be effective with limited doses and high safety ratings according to a report by toxicology expert Benedette Cuffari.
The other well-known vaccination of this type is the Hepatitis B vaccination.
Reports from GSK admit long term production of the vaccination is in jeopardy because one of the important ingredients can only be sourced from a rare Chilean evergreen called a Quillay tree.
