LONDON (DPA, AFP)


The world's first routine malaria vaccination programme is being rolled out with help from scientists in the UK.

The RTS,S vaccine, also known as Mosquirix, was developed by British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in collaboration with the Path Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI), an organisation tasked with accelerating the development of malaria vaccines. It was recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2021 for widespread use for children in Africa.

Researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine's (LSHTM) The Medical Research Council Unit, The Gambia (MRCG), have been working alongside local communities and volunteers in Africa for almost three decades to research, develop and deploy the jab.

It will be rolled out for routine use starting Monday, January 22, as part of the childhood vaccination programme in Africa, starting with Cameroon.

Professor Umberto D'Alessandro, director MRCG at LSHTM said: "Making the RTS,S vaccine available as a routine vaccination is only possible thanks to decades of work by researchers in Africa working with international partners, with clinical trials at MRCG at LSHTM starting back in 1997."

"The support of volunteers and communities both in The Gambia and theregion has been vital in showing that RTS,S,  the world's first malaria vaccine, was safe and could save lives."

Globally in 2022, there were an estimated 249 million malaria cases and 608,000 malaria deaths in 85 countries, according to WHO figures. And children under five accounted for about 80% of all malaria deaths in the African region.

The WHO has recommended a schedule of four doses in children from around five months of age, with a fifth dose considered after one year in areas of high risk.

RTS,S works by inducing an immune response to an antigen found on the surface of the Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite injected by female Anopheles mosquitoes into the bloodstream.  Clinical trials have shown that vaccinating with RTS,S before the rainy season and using anti-malarial drugs can cut children deaths by nearly two thirds.

D'Alessandro said: "Crucially, an LSHTM coordinated five-year trial in Burkina Faso and Mali, which began in 2017, showed that vaccinating with RTS,S before the rainy season, alongside the use of antimalarial drugs, reduced cases of severe malaria in children and deaths by nearly two thirds."

"In RTS,S we now have a malaria vaccine that, starting with Cameroon, can be rolled out across malaria-prone regions worldwide and help to revive malaria control efforts that had recently stalled."

Meanwhile a second vaccine, R21, which was developed by Oxford University, was prequalified by WHO last year, a crucial step in making the vaccine eligible for global use.

Malaria Jab Rollout In Cameroon A 'Turning Point': GAVI

The rollout of malaria vaccines in a regular immunisation programme marks a "turning point" in the fight against the disease, Aurelia Nguyen, chief programme officer of the Gavi vaccine alliance, told AFP.

"We decided to concentrate first where the need was greatest. Cameroon is one of the countries where disease incidence is fairly high.

"So we focused on Cameroon because that's where the vaccine will really have a positive impact.

"In Cameroon, 30 percent of consultations are linked to malaria. Having a preventative tool like the vaccine will free up the health system and result in fewer hospitalisations and deaths.

"We are working to start rolling out the vaccine in as many countries as possible. Thirty countries have shown an interest.

"We hope to have a fairly broad rollout within the next two years. We are focusing first on the areas most at risk, and then bit by bit we will be able to expand, depending on what the countries want."