World Health Organization (WHO) adds ‘malaria vaccine’R21/Matrix-M‘, developed by the University of Oxford, to its list of prequalified vaccines, an evaluation process that determines whether they are safe, effective and manufactured in accordance with international standards. It is the second prequalified by the international organization after the RTS,S/AS01 vaccine, which obtained this status in July 2022, a historical milestone in the fight against this disease. Both vaccines have been shown to be safe and effective in clinical trials in preventing malaria in children.
The WHO recommended the use of vaccine ‘R21/Matrix-M’ in October of this year, following the advice of the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) and the Malaria Policy Advisory Group. Now, prequalification is the previous step for the acquisition of vaccines by UNICEF and financial support for their deployment by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
The agency is confident that when it is widely applied, along with other interventions recommended for malaria control, it will have a great impact on public health. Demand for malaria vaccines is high, but supply has so far been limited. With the prequalification of this second vaccine, it is expected expand access to the prevention of malaria through vaccination, and thus meet the high demand in African countries. Globally, in 2022 it is estimated that there will be 249 million cases of malaria and 608,000 deaths from this disease in 85 countries.
Safe and effective
Rogério Gaspar, director of the WHO Regulatory and Prequalification Department, has assured that obtaining WHO vaccine prequalification “guarantees that the vaccines used in global immunization programs are safe and effective in the conditions of use in the health systems for which they are intended.” In this regard, he added that “the WHO evaluates multiple products every year for prequalification and the core of this work is to guarantee greater access to safe, effective and quality health products.”
For her part, the director of the Department of Immunization, Vaccines and Biological Products, Kate O’Brien, highlighted that the prequalification of R21/Matrix-M “represents a great step forward in global health.” For the expert, this achievement underlines the “unwavering” commitment of the WHO to the eradication of malaria. “This is another step in ensuring a healthier, more resilient future for those who have lived for too long in fear of what malaria could do to their children,” she concluded.
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2023-12-21 10:25:32
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