2023-12-29 05:08:10
The World Health Organization prequalifies a second malaria vaccine. A major advance in the prevention of this disease. In a press release made public on December 21, 2023, the Organization announced that it had added the R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine to its list of prequalified vaccines.
“In October 2023, WHO recommended its use for the prevention of malaria in children, following the recommendations of the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (Sage) and the Advisory Group on Control Policy once morest malaria. This prequalification will improve access to vaccines, an essential tool for preventing disease in this population: it is in fact required for Unicef to carry out its vaccine purchases and for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to finance the deployment“, specifies the press release. Thus, said vaccine is added to the RTS,S/AS01 vaccine prequalified in July 2022.
“Clinical trials have shown that both are safe and effective in preventing malaria in children. Deployed on a large scale, in addition to other recommended antimalaria interventions, they should have very favorable public health impacts. Malaria, a mosquito-borne disease, places a particularly heavy burden on children in the African Region, causing nearly 500 000 deaths each year. In 2022, globally, it is estimated that there were 249 million cases of malaria and 608,000 deaths due to this disease, in 85 countries,” informs the WHO. Developed by the University of Oxford and produced by the Serum Institute of India, this second vaccine will improve access to vaccine prevention of this disease. And this, in a context where demand for malaria vaccines is high and supply is still limited.
“As part of the prequalification process, WHO applies international criteria to comprehensively evaluate vaccines and determine whether they are safe, effective and produced in accordance with international standards. WHO also ensures that the safety and effectiveness of prequalified vaccines is maintained, for example through regular re-evaluation, site inspection and targeted testing. Prequalification meets the specific needs of national immunization programs for vaccine characteristics such as potency, thermostability, presentation, labeling and shipping conditions,” reassures the World Health Organization.
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