R21/Matrix-M vaccine, developed by the University of Oxford, is the first malaria vaccine to reach 75% efficacy target

R21/Matrix-M vaccine, developed by the University of Oxford, is the first malaria vaccine to reach 75% efficacy target

A highly effective malaria vaccine has been recommended for widespread use by the World Health Organization.

The R21/Matrix-M vaccine, developed by the University of Oxford, is only the second malaria vaccine to be recommended by the WHO. It is the first to meet the WHO’s target of 75% efficacy.

Malaria, a mosquito-borne disease, claims half a million lives every year and mostly affects children under the age of five, and pregnant women.

“As a malaria researcher, I used to dream of the day we would have a safe and effective vaccine against malaria. Now we have two,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the WHO.

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    Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO’s regional director for Africa, said: “This second vaccine holds real potential to close the huge demand-and-supply gap.

    Delivered to scale and rolled out widely, the two vaccines can help bolster malaria prevention and control efforts, and save hundreds of thousands of young lives in Africa from this deadly disease.”

    Observers heralded the announcement, but warned the vaccine was “no magic bullet” in the fight against malaria and that it should be used in tandem with other measures, such as insecticide-treated nets and indoor spraying to prevent the disease.

    Dr Michael Charles, the chief executive of the RBM Partnership to End Malaria, said the announcement was “a step in the right direction” but that there were still “major hurdles to overcome”.

    “In the face of significant funding shortfalls and the growing threats of insecticide and drug resistance, and climate change, further investment must be urgently mobilised to scale up, manufacture and roll out malaria vaccines to ensure they are readily accessible to countries that decide to use them,” he said.

    Megan Greischar, an assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Cornell University, who studies parasites and the transmission of infection, said eliminating vector-born diseases such as malaria is incredibly difficult even with an effective vaccine.

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