The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Monday that its experts have recommended a second malaria vaccine for children, R21/Matrix-M, developed by the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom.
The R21/Matrix-M vaccine is manufactured by the Serum Institute of India and has already been approved for use in Burkina Faso, Ghana and Nigeria.
“As a malaria researcher, I dreamed of the day when we would have a safe and effective malaria vaccine. Now we have two”This was said by WHO leader Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
In 2021, the RTS,S vaccine, produced by British pharmaceutical giant GSK, became the first vaccine recommended by the WHO to prevent malaria in children in areas with moderate to high malaria transmission.
WHO Regional Director for Africa Dr Matshidiso Moeti said the new vaccine has great potential for the continent and will help bridge the huge gap between supply and demand.
“If widely supplied and widely implemented, the two vaccines could help strengthen malaria prevention and control efforts and save hundreds of thousands of young lives in Africa from this deadly disease.”he emphasized.
Source: DN
