WHO recommends administration of second malaria vaccine

The World Health Organisation announced the recommendation of a second malaria vaccine on Monday in an effort to provide nations with a less expensive and more accessible option to combat the deadly disease.

According to WHO director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the new vaccine, known as R-21, was created by Oxford University with assistance from the Serum Institute of India. It will be introduced in a few African nations early next year and spread to more nations later in 2024.

The three-dose vaccine is thought to be approximately 75% effective according to research that has not yet been through the customary procedure of scientific evaluation. Boosters would be accessible for ongoing defence.

"Almost exactly two years ago, WHO recommended the broad use of the world's first malaria vaccine called RTS,S" also known as Mosquirix, Tedros told a briefing in Geneva.

Mosquirix, created by British drugmaker GSK, requires four doses, is only about 30% effective, and wears off after months. According to the WHO, there is not enough data to determine if the recently developed Oxford vaccine will be more effective.

While GSK can only create 15 million doses of Mosquirix per year, the Serum Institute claims it could generate 200 million doses of the R-21 vaccine yearly.

The goal of a broad vaccination rollout is to drastically reduce disease transmission and infection rates. The public has been urged by experts not to substitute vaccines for other preventative measures including bed nets and insecticide spraying.

The WHO also recommended a dengue vaccine made by Takeda Pharmaceuticals. Like malaria, dengue is a disease that is spread by mosquitoes and is common in subtropical areas.

The vaccine from Takeda Pharmaceuticals was demonstrated to be successful in all four virus stereotypes in persons who had already contracted the disease, but it performed less well in some of these stereotypes in those who had not yet contracted the disease.

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