World's first malaria vaccine –Mosquirix | 1st parasitic vaccine
Malarial vaccine is difficult to develop as it is caused by a protozoa, single celled organism, parasitic; that shape shifts as it moves from mosquito to human, on to the liver and then blood cells. The vaccine targets the stage of the parasite called sporozoites that are transmitted by the mosquitos. “It does so by generating antibodies to sufficient levels to prevent the sporozoite from entering the liver, the phase known as the silent phase because it doesn’t cause any clinical symptoms. Once it exits the liver, it enters the red-blood cells, causing the disease.”
The RTS,S vaccine, Mosquirix, is also the first vaccine developed for any parasitic disease. Researchers have been developing and testing this vaccine since 1987, at a cost of more than 750 million US$.
Why it matters:
Malaria kills about 500,000 people every year, with about two-thirds being children younger than 5, i.e. more than 260,000 deaths in children aged under five in Africa every year.
The problem is primarily centred around Africa, which accounts for 94 per cent of global malaria cases.
The clinical trial: The WHO endorsement is based on the results of over 2 Million doses administered since 2019 to about 800,000 children in Kenya, Malawi and Ghana. The vaccine was incorporated into these countries' immunisation programmes after clinical trials.
The vaccine showed promise in a 1996 US challenge study, which involved volunteers being bitten by mosquitoes. A large phase 3 trial in Africa followed in 2009 and reported positive results in 2015 in 15,000 children 17 months to five years old. Now, a comprehensive study of 800,000 children in three African countries shows it is safe with 30 to 40% efficacy.
#Malaria, #vaccine, #Plasmodium
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