2023-10-02 16:47:40
The World Health Organization (WHO) authorized a second vaccine for children on Monday, October 2. “safe and effective” once morest malaria. This very old disease, which causes fever, headaches and chills, becoming a serious, even fatal condition, in the absence of treatment, caused the death of 619,000 people worldwide in 2021, the immense majority of cases and deaths occurring in Africa.
“As a malaria researcher, I dreamed of the day when we would have a safe and effective vaccine once morest malaria. Now we have two”welcomed Doctor Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a press conference.
Following advice from its Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) and its Malaria Management Policy Advisory Group (MPAG), WHO “recommends a second vaccine called R21/Matrix-M to prevent malaria in children at risk of contracting the disease”.
Other WHO experts are still assessing manufacturing arrangements and other regulatory aspects, explained the director of the Department of Immunization and Vaccines at WHO, Dr. Kate O’Brien. Once this latest agreement is obtained, Unicef and the Vaccine Alliance (GAVI) will be able to administer the vaccine, which is manufactured by the Serum Institute of India. However, its use has already been authorized by the authorities in Ghana, Nigeria and Burkina Faso.
“Very big step forward”
In 2021, another vaccine, “RTS, S”, produced by the British pharmaceutical giant GSK, had become the first vaccine to be recommended by the WHO to prevent malaria in children in areas where transmission of the disease is moderate to high. The two vaccines have a similar effectiveness rate – around 75% – when administered under the same conditions.
“Costing between 2 and 4 US dollars [1,90 à 3,81 euros] per dose, this vaccine is comparable to other recommended methods of malaria control and other childhood vaccines », specified Doctor Tedros. It therefore constitutes a “very big step forward” for the dozens of countries that want to obtain serums once morest this scourge, said Dr. O’Brien.
By 2026, WHO and its partners expect demands of up to 60 million doses per year. By 2030, this figure is expected to reach up to 100 million, GAVI said in a statement. Pilot programs to introduce RTS,S in three African countries – Ghana, Kenya and Malawi – have resulted in more than 1.7 million children receiving at least one dose of vaccine since 2019.
In July, the WHO, GAVI and UNICEF jointly announced that 18 million doses of this anti-malaria vaccine will be allocated to twelve African countries in 2023-2025. Caused by a parasite transmitted by mosquitoes, malaria remains a formidable scourge, particularly for African children, due in particular to growing resistance to treatment.
Dengue and meningitis vaccines
The malaria vaccine isn’t the only one the WHO SAGE group focused on at its meeting last week. Experts also recommended a new dengue vaccine, called Qdenga, for children aged 6 to 16 living in areas where the disease is a significant public health problem.
They also recommended a new meningitis vaccine, called Men5CV, which protects once morest five species of bacteria that cause the disease.
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As for the fight once morest Covid-19, these experts judged that, for most vaccines, a single dose was now sufficient for primary vaccination once morest the disease, given that most people have already been infected at least once.
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