London, 3 October 2023
The World Health Organisation have recommended the new R21/Matrix-M vaccine for malaria prevention.
Dr Charlie Weller, Head of Prevention, Infectious Disease, at Wellcome, said:
“Malaria is still a significant threat to global health, which is further exacerbated by impact of climate change on vector-borne diseases. The WHO recommendation for the use of the R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine is promising progress. The demand for malaria vaccines outweighs the supply of the RTS’S vaccine, so having another safe, effective and affordable vaccine available could help protect those living in malaria-endemic areas.
“While further research is needed to fully understand the vaccine and its potential impact on reducing the impact of the disease, this outcome is a great example of how researchers and policymakers can work collaboratively to enhance our preparedness and prevention against escalating infectious diseases.”
Prof Azra Ghani, Director of the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, and Professor in Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College London, said:
“Despite over a decade of successful intervention, the burden from malaria in children in Sub-Saharan Africa remains unacceptably high, with approximately 600,000 deaths a year in children under the age of 5 years. Today’s announcement of a second malaria vaccine – R21/Matrix-M – that has demonstrated high efficacy in clinical trials across the continent is therefore extremely exciting. One of the challenges to date with delivery of the first malaria vaccine, RTS,S/AS01, has been that demand has outstripped supply. By relieving these supply pressures, this new vaccine will enable many more countries to introduce the vaccine in at-risk populations. By doing so – alongside maintaining other core malaria interventions including the provision of insecticide-treated bed nets and chemoprevention – this offers the potential to reduce malaria deaths by up to a third and set the world back on track towards the global target of a 90% reduction malaria deaths by 2030.”
For more information
Declared interests
Prof Azra Ghani: “I have collaborated with the Jenner Institute and trial investigators for R21/Matrix-M to generate estimates of the broader public health impact and cost-effectiveness of this vaccine that were part of the evidence submitted to WHO. This work was funded by an investigator award from the Wellcome Trust. I am a member of the WHO Malaria Policy Advisory Group but did not participate in the decision due to this conflict.”
For all other experts, no reply to our request for DOIs was received.
Source – SMC