Thursday, 30 July 2015
The Emergence of the First Malaria Vaccine in History ....
A malaria vaccine, the first of its kind in history to be licensed for use in humans has been recommended for use in babies who are at risk of malaria in Africa.
It was designated as safe and effective by the European regulators last week.
Mosquirix or RTS,S was designed by GlaxoSmithKline(British) and the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative and was partly funded by the Bill and Melinda gates foundation.
The vaccine however awaits a WHO assessment to determine when and where it could be used. The WHO aims to make a recommendation later this year.
The approval of African leaders and governments also needs to be sought as the vaccine offers only partial protection.
It's use alongside other protective measures such as insecticide treated bed nets and other insecticides can go a long way in curbing the malaria scourge in sub Saharan Africa.
Malaria continues to claim the life of one child every minute. Infecting around 200 million people a year. It killed "an estimated 584,000 people in 2013, most of them being under 5 children in sub Saharan Africa.
Global health experts have long anticipated the development of an effective and efficient malaria vaccine by scientists, and RTS,S/mosquirix is the result of 30years of work by the researchers at GSK.
Is this shot the final answer to wiping out malaria?
Not exactly, as trial data released in 2011 and 2012 showed it only reduced episodes of malaria in babies aged 6-12 weeks by 27 percent, and by around 46 percent in children aged 5-17 months.
European Medicines Agency has recommended that the shot should still be licensed for use in babies in the full age range covered in the trials - from 6 weeks to 17 months.
Some malaria specialists have expressed concern that the complexities and potential costs of deploying this first vaccine when it only provides partial protection make it less attractive and more risky.
Joe Cohen, a scientist at GSK who has led the development of Mosquirix since 1987, has said that he has no doubt the vaccine could significantly reduce the toll of sickness and death caused by malaria among African children.
"I have absolutely no reservations in terms of rolling this vaccine out," he told Reuters.
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