Current:Home > Contact-usA 'dream' come true: Now there are 2 vaccines to slash the frightful toll of malaria-LoTradeCoin
A 'dream' come true: Now there are 2 vaccines to slash the frightful toll of malaria
View Date:2024-12-23 20:27:37
"As a malaria researcher," says WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, "I used to dream of the day when we would have a safe and effective vaccine against malaria. Now we have two."
They're the first vaccines designed to work against a human parasite.
The first, called RTS,S, was unveiled almost two years ago. The second one, recommended by the World Health Organization this week, is called R21/Matrix-M and is intended for children between 5 and 36 months, who are among the most vulnerable to the disease.
"A vaccine recruits the human immune system to fight the parasite as soon as it enters the body," says Dyann Wirth, chair of the WHO Malaria Policy Advisory Group. "A vaccinated person is poised to fight off the infection at its earliest stage."
WHO hopes that the combination of these vaccines will make a real difference, especially in Africa where malaria's toll is especially savage.
For example, in Burkina Faso in West Africa, pretty much everyone gets malaria. Last year, out of a population of 20-some million, about half got sick. Halidou Tinto was one of them. He leads the Clinical Research Unit of Nanaro in the country. His six-year-old twins also fell ill with malaria this year.
"As soon as [the children] are febrile or they complain about headache," Tinto says, "you have to think about malaria and treat them immediately. And you can avoid any bad outcome of the disease."
The worst outcome is death. Tinto says 4,000 people died of malaria last year in Burkina Faso alone. In 2021, across Africa, it's estimated that 619,000 died of the mosquito-borne disease, most of them children.
"People are living with the disease," says Tinto. "But of course, we are not happy and we are not proud of this."
This is what makes WHO's approval of the second malaria vaccine such welcome news. Tinto ran the clinical trials in Burkina Faso that led to its recommendation. Across four African countries, these trials showed a 75% reduction in malaria cases in the year following vaccination of young children.
"I am very, very happy," says Tinto, "and we are pretty sure this vaccine will have a big impact in term[s] of public health."
That impact includes addressing a major shortfall in the supply of the first vaccine. And it comes at an important time in the fight against malaria, since numerous countries are now reporting growing resistance to what had been a powerful anti-malarial drug for decades.
"The estimates are that by adding the vaccine to the current tools that are in place," says Dr. Mary Hamel, senior technical officer with WHO, "tens of thousands of children's lives will be saved every year. So quite substantial."
The idea is that if the number of cases can be lowered, that'll reduce the amount of disease that mosquitoes can transmit. So not only will vaccinated kids receive protection, but even the unvaccinated will have a lower risk of being bitten by a mosquito carrying the parasite.
"It's very important to combine the existing tools," says Tinto, "including vaccine[s], drugs and bednet[s]."
The Serum Institute of India, who will be manufacturing the new vaccine, says a hundred million doses will likely be available to countries by the middle of next year.
"We hope that the objective of the WHO of eliminating malaria by the year 2030," says Tinto, whose twins have now recovered, "will be close if we are able to deploy this vaccine very quickly in Africa."
veryGood! (63)
Related
- Giuliani’s lawyers after $148M defamation judgment seek to withdraw from his case
- Colorado high court to hear case against Christian baker who refused to make LGBTQ-themed cake
- Want to fight climate change and food waste? One app can do both
- In 'Ahsoka', Rosario Dawson goes ride-or-Jedi
- Best fits for Corbin Burnes: 6 teams that could match up with Cy Young winner
- Making cities 'spongy' could help fight flooding — by steering the water underground
- India tells Canada to remove 41 of its 62 diplomats in the country, an official says
- WWE's Becky Lynch, Seth Rollins continue to honor legacy of the 'wonderful' Bray Wyatt
- Wall Street makes wagers on the likely winners and losers in a second Trump term
- As realignment scrambles college sports, some football coaches are due raises. Big ones.
Ranking
- 2 Florida women charged after shooting death of photographer is livestreamed
- Things to know about the Vatican’s big meeting on the future of the Catholic Church
- Charlotte Sena update: What we know about the 9-year-old missing in New York
- Florida man who murdered women he met in bars set to die by lethal injection
- 'The Penguin' spoilers! Colin Farrell spills on that 'dark' finale episode
- Here's the story of the portrait behind Ruth Bader Ginsburg's postage stamp
- How John Mayer Feels About His Song With Katy Perry Nearly a Decade After Their Breakup
- Adoptive parents charged with felony neglect after 3 children found alone in dangerous conditions
Recommendation
-
Mike Tyson is expected to honor late daughter during Jake Paul fight. Here's how.
-
Brazil’s government starts expelling non-Indigenous people from two native territories in the Amazon
-
Trump turns his fraud trial into a campaign stop as he seeks to capitalize on his legal woes
-
NBA Star Jimmy Butler Debuts Emo Look in Must-See Hair Transformation
-
Why Amanda Seyfried Traded Living in Hollywood for Life on a Farm in Upstate New York
-
In 'Ahsoka', Rosario Dawson goes ride-or-Jedi
-
PrEP prevents HIV infections, but it's not reaching Black women
-
UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman wows some Conservatives and alarms others with hardline stance