WHO approves world's first malaria vaccine

By a Staff Reporter: The World Health Organization on Wednesday approved the world’s first malaria vaccine - RTS,S/AS01, various media outlets reported today.

 The approval comes after a review of a pilot programme deployed since 2019 in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi, under which more than 2 mln doses of the vaccine were administered.

After reviewing evidence from those countries, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said they were "recommending the broad use of the world's first malaria vaccine."

The global health body has recommended four doses of the vaccine for children up to the age of two years in sub-Saharan Africa and other regions with a high spread of malaria.

The vaccine was first made by GlaxoSmithKline plc in 1987.

This is the first vaccine recommended by the WHO that works against the human parasite plasmodium falciparum, one of the five malaria parasite species.

Malaria is a plasmodium parasite disease transmitted by the bite of infected mosquitoes. Its symptoms include fever, headache, muscle pain and sweating.

Source : Eureka