The vaccine against malaria developed by Oxford University has demonstrated a 77% efficacy and thus is the first vaccine to exceed the WHO efficiency threshold of 75%. None of the malaria vaccines that have so far been developed have achieved this level with most reaching an efficacy rate of 50%. The Oxford University team made the announcement as they revealed the results of the second phase of the vaccine’s clinical trials.
Malaria, a disease transmitted from person to person by infected mosquitoes, is estimated to cost about 400,000 lives annually, most of whom are children under five years of age.
NEW: Oxford researchers find malaria vaccine is highly effective:
• Vaccine efficacy of 77% in African children
• Vaccine, trialled in 450 children, shows favourable safety profile and was well-tolerated
More info ⬇️https://t.co/vOvEuICo2Q
— University of Oxford (@UniofOxford) April 23, 2021
The vaccine, R21/Matrix-M, was developed by the same team that worked on the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. Trials began in 2019 among 450 children in Burkina Faso when they were tested between May and August before the peak of the malaria season with low and high doses. The results showed that the vaccine was safe and highly effective. Oxford scientists have started recruitment for the third phase which will involve 5,000 children aged between five months and three years old in four African countries.
If the final trials are successful, the biggest world vaccine manufacturer, the Indian Serum Institute, has announced its readiness to produce 200 million doses a year. Professor Adrian Hill, Director of the Jenner Institute at Oxford and one of the study’s authors, said the “vaccine has the potential to have a major public health impact.”
Although malaria has been a well-known disease for many years, it emerged that developing a vaccine against it was challenging as scientists had to deal with thousands of genes whereas a disease such as SARS-CoV-2 only has a dozen. This means that a very high immune response is needed to defeat malaria, as Adrian Hill explained.
In 2020, malaria killed more people in Africa than the coronavirus.
