A new malaria vaccine could be a ‘huge deal’ in the fight to save lives in Africa and abroad | CBC Radio

After 30 years of research, a new malaria vaccine has been approved for use in Ghana and conditionally approved for use in Nigeria.

The R21/Matrix-M vaccine, developed by scientists at the University of Oxford in London, has been cleared for use by Ghana’s Food and Drugs Authority and Nigeria’s National Agency for Food and Drug Administration And Control, in children aged five to 36 months.

“This is a public health tool that we think can really make a difference in controlling malaria better, in saving many of the … lives that are being lost to malaria every year, principally amongst children in Africa,” said Adrian Hill, director of Oxford University’s Jenner Institute, who led the design and clinical development of the vaccine.

The R21 vaccine requires three doses plus a booster and is intended for use in infants and young children. Its Phase 3 trial is still ongoing, but its Phase 2B trial exceeded the World Health Organization’s target of 75 per cent efficacy, with a 77 per cent efficacy.

According to Hill, the vaccine works about three-quarters of the time and clears “every last one” of the parasites that cause the disease.

Hill said that the vaccine’s rollout will “certainly” start this year, maybe even in the next few months.

But WHO haven’t yet approved the vaccine — and it’s unusual for for a country to approve a vaccine for widespread use prior to the world health body giving its OK.

Nonetheless, according to WHO, at least 10 other African countries’ regulatory authorities are reviewing trial data to assess the shot, and more of them are expected to approve it in the coming weeks.

WATCH: New malaria vaccine could be ‘world changing,’ U.K. scientists say

New malaria vaccine could be ‘world changing,’ U.K. scientists say

A new malaria vaccine developed by scientists at Oxford University could reduce deaths 70 per cent by 2030, and plans to manufacture it are already in the works.

Hill told The Current‘s Matt Galloway that a key of the vaccine’s potential rollout is its scale. 

The Serum Institute of India, which will manufacture the vaccine, has committed to producing 100 to 200 million doses a year. That’s “huge compared to any other malaria vaccine that might be coming along,” said Hill.

And it won’t be limited to children.

“We see an incremental rollout and increasing uptake initially in children, but eventually in adults as well, remembering that adults in Africa suffer from malaria too,” Hill said.

A step in the right direction

WHO estimates that more than 600,000 people die from malaria each year, with most deaths occurring in sub-Saharan Africa. 

Dr. Fred Aboagye-Antwi, a medical entomologist and parasitologist who works with the NGO Target Malaria, says that “almost everyone” in Ghana has had malaria at some point, and that the disease is responsible for more 12,000 deaths in that country each year alone.

“When I was young, one of my best friends had malaria and unfortunately, he passed on in secondary school,” he told Galloway. “I had [it] …. at least twice. So it’s a big problem.”

That’s partially why, according to infectious diseases expert Dr. Isaac Bogoch, the approval of the R21 vaccine is a “huge deal” and a “massive step in the right direction.”

Bogoch said he’s “extremely hopeful” about the vaccine’s potential in the medium and long term, but noted that the study data needs to be considered with context.

“The data … that’s publicly available is based through Phase 2 clinical study data from Burkina Faso. It’s great data, but it’s a smaller study in a single country,” he said.

We need to explain to them what this vaccine is, how it works, and why it’s important.-Dr. Fred Aboagye-Antwi, medical entomologist and parasitologist

Furthermore, it remains to be seen how the vaccine will work in real-world settings. 

“You can have very large clinical trials that look fantastic, but when you actually start using these vaccines in real-world settings, sometimes you find something that might be unanticipated that you’re just not going to see in a very large Phase 3 clinical study,” he said. 

“We can be optimistic, but I think it’s premature to celebrate.”

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Malaria vaccine approval has already had ‘tremendous impact’, WHO official says

Dr. Mary Hamel, the World Health Organization’s malaria vaccine implementation lead, says the recent approval of the vaccine has already had a ‘tremendous impact’ in the fight against malaria and the challenge moving forward will be procuring enough vaccines to meet the demand.

Aboagye-Antwi also stressed the importance of community engagement when it comes to deploying the vaccine, particularly in areas where there may be skepticism about their safety and efficacy.

“We need to explain to them what this vaccine is, how it works, and why it’s important.”

Furthermore, while it comes at an “opportune time,” he says it’s just one more tool “towards achieving the goal of elimination” of the disease.

“I remember … over a decade ago, we used to talk about a million people dying as a result of malaria,” he said. “But with increased investment in control efforts, use of bednets, use of indoor residual sprays, mortality due to malaria dropped to around 400,000 from that one million point.”

“With the pandemic, there was a bit of a lull in the efforts, and so it goes back to about 600,000. But with the coming on board of the vaccine, I am very certain that it is going to drive down the mortality associated with malaria.”

For Hill, the R21 vaccine’s approval is the culmination of decades of work, but it doesn’t invalidate existing anti-malaria efforts.

“A vaccine is closest to really knock down those infections and deaths. And by the next decade, we’re not focusing on saving lives so much because that’s been largely achieved. We’re focusing on eradicating this parasite.”