Gom Mirian
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has announced a new vaccine, R21/Matrix-M, to be used to prevent malaria in children.
The vaccine received approval following the recommendations made by the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on IImmunisation (SAGE) and the Malaria Policy Advisory Group (MPAG).
Malaria is a significant health problem, with roughly 260 million cases worldwide and about 413,000 deaths annually. According to the WHO, Africa bears the highest burden of malaria, with 84% of all malaria deaths occurring in the sub-Saharan region. Children in Africa, under the age of five are most vulnerable to the mosquito-borne disease.
Along with the vaccination schedule and COVID-19 product recommendations, WHO also made recommendations based on SAGE’s advice for new vaccines against dengue and meningitis. Important vaccination programming recommendations from WHO were also made on polio, IA2030, and restarting the imimmunisation campaign.
The R21 vaccine is the second malaria vaccine recommended by WHO, following the RTS, S/AS01 vaccine, which received a WHO recommendation in 2021. Both vaccines are shown to be safe and effective in preventing malaria in children and, when implemented broadly, are expected to have a high public health impact.
Demand for malaria vaccines is unprecedented; however, the available supply of RTS, S is limited. The addition of R21 to the list of WHO-recommended malaria vaccines is expected to result in sufficient vaccine supply to benefit all children living in areas where malaria is a public health risk.
