Ground-breaking Malaria Vaccine Promises A New Avenue of Treatment

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by Naba Batool

10-10-2021
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This drug that has been in the trials since 2019, is now available for a wider audience. With this major scientific advancement, a disease that registers hundreds of deaths can be controlled and mitigated.

 

This drug is synthesized by British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline. Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus said at the webinar “This is a historic moment. The long-awaited malaria vaccine for children is a breakthrough for science, child health, and malaria control. Using this vaccine in addition to existing tools to prevent malaria could save tens of thousands of young lives each year,"

He further went on to acknowledge the unflinching efforts of the scientific community and their fruitful progress. An age-old disease that has been the leading cause of countless fatalities for the past two decades can now be controlled which is an incredible scientific achievement.

WHO recommends using the vaccine that has been named Mosquirix (an optimistic vaccine with a promising name) especially for the sub-Saharan African minors. Since 2019 this RTS, S/AS01 has been administered to the children in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi. After the successful trial in these countries, WHO has recommended widespread use of this path-breaking malaria treatment.

Malaria is a disease that has been a primary cause of children fatalities for the past two decades. According to the statistics of WHO, 260,000 children under the age of 5 suffer from this deadly disease every year. With this new vaccine, the avenue of malaria treatment looks quite promising. WHO regional director said that "For centuries, malaria has stalked sub-Saharan Africa, causing immense personal suffering. We have long hoped for an effective malaria vaccine, and now for the first time, we have such a vaccine recommended for widespread use.”