Although a vaccine against malaria has been sought for decades, there is only one that has been proven to effectively protect against the disease: RTS,S/AS01, on the market under the name Mosquirix. The vaccine was developed at the Belgian site of pharmaceutical company GSK, in Wavre in Walloon Brabant.
Mosquirix already received a positive advice from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in 2015. However, the WHO wanted to see more results and decided a year later to set up a large pilot project. In addition, the vaccine would be administered to children in Kenya, Ghana and Malawi. Since 2019, 2.3 million doses of the vaccine have been administered in this way to about 800,000 children in the three African countries.
The WHO has reconsolidated the results of all studies and now recommends the malaria vaccine for all children in Sub-Saharan Africa and other regions where malaria is prevalent.
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This is a breakthrough for science, children’s health and the fight against malaria.
Tedros Adhanom, Director General of the World Health Organization
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“I have long looked forward to the day when we would have an effective vaccine against this terrible disease. Today is that day,” Director General Tedros Adhanom said at the press conference. “This highly anticipated malaria vaccine is a breakthrough for science, children’s health and the fight against malaria.”
Malaria is an infectious disease caused by a parasite that is transmitted to humans via mosquitoes. Infection can lead to a severe fever and be fatal.
Malaria still occurs in many parts of the world, but especially in Africa. According to the WHO, some 400,000 people died of malaria in 2019, 260,000 of whom were African children. About 200 million people are said to be infected with malaria every year.
The results of the studies show that the malaria vaccine offers 30 percent protection against life-threatening malaria. “But combined with other measures, such as a mosquito net and good health care, the vaccine could save tens of thousands of young lives every year,” says the WHO.
Vaccine was developed in our country
GSK has been developing the malaria vaccine for 30 years. The fact that there is no other vaccine on the market so far has to do with the parasite that causes malaria.
“A parasite is a much more complex beast to fight than a virus or bacteria,” explains Lode Schuerman from GSK in Wavre. He is responsible for the clinical trials of the vaccine. “The moment a mosquito transfers the malaria parasite to humans, by stabbing it, the parasite quickly hides in the liver, where it is still difficult for our immune system to reach. So we only have half an hour to attack the parasite. Once the parasite re-emerges from the liver, it’s actually become a different organism that our immune system no longer recognizes.”
However, the vaccine will not eradicate malaria. “None of the tools we have today are sufficient. But recently it has been shown that the vaccine in combination with preventive medication gives unexpectedly good results,” says Dr. Schuerman. “So I think that combination will give a very big breakthrough in the fight against malaria.”
GSK will submit an official application for approval for the vaccine to WHO early next year. Currently, the WHO limits itself to a recommendation, but one on a large scale.
Listen to the conversation with Lode Schuerman in ‘The World Today’ via Radio 1 Select
Source: vrtnws.be and ‘The World Today’
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