Malaria, what it means to finally have a vaccine

The malaria it kills nearly half a million people a year. Half are children who are not yet 5 years old. This is enough to mark the importance of the vaccine approved by the World Health Organization. It is the first for the prevention of one of the deadliest infectious diseases affecting mainly in sub-Saharan Africa.

The WHO-approved vaccine is called Mosquirix and is manufactured at the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline. This vaccine affects all parasitic diseasesAnd. For malaria it works by counteracting Plasmodium falciparum, which is the most widespread and dangerous of the 5 pathogens of the disease. The manufacturing company has donated ten million doses.

According to a 2020 study if the vaccine were distributed in countries with the highest incidence of malaria in the world, 5.4 million cases could be prevented. 23,000 deaths of children under the age of 5 would be saved every year.

The vaccine should be given in 4 doses in children aged 5 months and over. “This is a historic moment, the long-awaited malaria vaccine for children is a breakthrough in science, children’s health and malaria control,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. The World Health Organization recommends it for all children living in areas where transmission is moderate to severe.

In tests the vaccine had an effectiveness of about 50% against severe malaria in the first year. In the following years it drops down to zero from the fourth year. The vaccine’s impact on deaths has not been measured, but severe malaria is known to account for half of all deaths. The vaccine combined with preventive drugs is effective in fighting the disease according to recent studies.

For Pedro Alonso, director of the WHO global malaria program, it is historic to have a vaccine against malaria safe, moderately effective and ready for distribution. The vaccine has been tested in Kenya, Malawi and Ghana. More than 2.3 million doses have been administered alongside ongoing local immunization programs.

Italy was declared malaria-free in 1970. In the world it is still the second disease for the number of infected and deaths. The first is tuberculosis. According to the World malaria report, the total estimated cases in 2020 were 229 million and the deaths 409,000. The disease is present in 87 countries, but 94% of cases are in Africa. Nigeria, Congo, Tanzania, Burkina Faso, Mozambique and Niger are the countries with the greatest infections.