(ANSA) – ROME, APRIL 14 – It is the first malaria vaccine to exceed the 75% efficacy threshold set by the World Health Organization. Developed by the University of Oxford has obtained authorization for use in Ghana. Currently only one other vaccine is available but less effective. A turning point according to experts, considering that malaria kills half a million people globally every year and half of them are children under the age of 5, mainly from sub-Saharan Africa.
The new R-21/Matrix-M vaccine, developed by a group of researchers at the Jenner Institute of the University of Oxford and approved by the Ghanaian regulatory authorities, is explained in a note from the University of Oxford, is only the second vaccine against malaria approved worldwide and is the first to pass the 75% efficacy threshold (77% efficacy at 12-month follow-up). It has been approved for use in children aged between 5 months and 36 months, the age group at the highest risk of death from malaria. Furthermore, it can be produced on a large scale and at modest cost, which allows hundreds of millions of doses to be made available in those African countries most affected by malaria. The new vaccine contains Matrix-M, the adjuvant produced by Novavax, a saponin-based substance that enhances the immune response, making it longer lasting.
Globally, malaria deaths steadily decreased over the period 2000-2019, from 736,000 in 2000 to 409,000 in 2019. The proportion of total malaria deaths among children under the age of 5 was 84 % in 2000 and 67% in 2019. In addition, worldwide, the malaria death rate has decreased from about 25 in 2000, to 12 in 2015 and 10 in 2019, but with a significant slowdown in the rate of reduction in these last years.
About 96% of malaria deaths globally occurred in 29 countries, and four are responsible for just over half of all malaria deaths in 2021: Nigeria (31%), Democratic Republic of the Congo (13%), Niger (4%) and United Republic of Tanzania (4%). (HANDLE).
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