In recent Tweets of Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus , he said that malaria kills many young children but they have safe and very effective vaccine to give us hope that we can change this tragic trajectory. 1 million children have been vaccinated so far.
What should we know about this malaria vaccine?
Malaria vaccine is a vaccine used to eradicate malaria ,it was done with aim to prevent malaria ,currently bonly vaccine approved is called RTS,S known as Mosquirix .
In October 2021 WHO recommended its use on large scale Who consider this vaccine as safe basing on different research and studies done on this vaccine and proved to be safe for human .
This vaccine is composed by Protein sub unit and is given intramuscular ,there are other malaria vaccine currently under process.
This malaria vaccine Mosquirix was produced by Path Malaria Vaccine Initiative and GlaxoSmithKline under support of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and is most recently developed recombinant vaccine .
it is composed by plasmodium falcipalum circumsporozoite protein from per-erythrocytic stage , and it causes the productionthe production of antibodies capable of preventing the invasion of hepatocytes and it elicits a cellular response enabling the destruction of infected hepatocytes..
On 24 July 2015 ,Mosquirix received a positive review from European medicine Agency (EMA) on the proposal for the vaccine to be used to vaccinate children with age of 6 weeks to 17 months outside Europe .
The firs pilot of vaccine was launched on 23 April 2019 ,in Malawi on 30 April in Ghana and 13 September 2019 in Kenya.
in 2021 the vaccine was approved by WHO for broad use in children making it the first malaria vaccine to be approved by WHO.
Side Effects of Malaria Vaccine
Like any other vaccines ,there some side effects of malaria vaccine like pain and swelling at injection site and fever.
These side effect may last to 7 days after vaccine ,after injection children might be closely monitored by their parents for febrile conditions.
Its Efficacy
According to WHO ,Mosquirix third trial was conducted over 5 years from 2009 to 2014 enrolled approximately 15.000 young children and infants in 7 sub-saharan african countries ,the trial sites within these countries represented a range of malaria transmission settings
by analysis of findings ,vaccine showed significant reduction in overall hospital admissions as well as admissions due to malaria or severe anemia ,the vaccine also reduced the need for blood transfusions ,which are required to treat life threatening malaria anemia by 29%.
Other vaccines under development
1.R21/Matrix-M
is the most effective vaccine with efficaccy of 77% and was developed through collaboration with Oxford University ,Kenya Medical Research Institute ,London School of Hygiene ,NOVAVAX and Serum Institute of India
its third phase is planned to be conducted across 4 African countries on 4.800 children ,this vaccine is believed by WHO to be the firs vaccine to meets its goal of malaria vaccine of 75% efficacy.
2.NanoParticle enhancement of RTS,S
it based on technology to engineer a nanoparticle that display malaria specific B cell and T cell epitopes
3.PfsPZ
it was developed by Sanaria using radiation attenuated sprozoites to elicit an immune response ,clinical trials have been promising with trials in Africa ,Europe and US
This vaccine was recognized by US Food and Drug Administration in september 2016 and it is considered as a safe vaccine to be used.
4.SaRNA Vaccine
Self Amplifying RNA vaccine that targets the protein produced by plasmodium parasite
https://twitter.com/DrTedros/status/1525406571278245889?s=20&t=2-MR_ylAelJeHdCjOP0UJw