The World Health Organisation (WHO) has recommended a new vaccine, R21/Matrix-M, for the prevention of malaria in children.
WHO said in a statement yesterday that the recommendation followed advice from the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunisation (SAGE) and the Malaria Policy Advisory Group (MPAG) and was endorsed by the WHO director general, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, after the regular biannual meeting held September 25 -29.
WHO also issued recommendations on the advice of SAGE for new vaccines for dengue and meningitis, along with immunization schedule and product recommendations for COVID-19.
WHO also issued key immunisation programmatic recommendations on polio, IA2030 and recovering the immunization programme.
The R21 vaccine is the second malaria vaccine recommended by WHO, following the RTS,S/AS01 vaccine, which received a WHO recommendation in 2021.
Both vaccines are shown to be safe and effective in preventing malaria in children and, when implemented broadly, are expected to have high public health impact.
Malaria, a mosquito-borne disease, places a particularly high burden on children in the African Region, where nearly half a million children die from the disease each year.
“As a malaria researcher, I used to dream of the day we would have a safe and effective vaccine against malaria. Now we have two.
“Demand for the RTS,S vaccine far exceeds supply, so this second vaccine is a vital additional tool to protect more children faster, and to bring us closer to our vision of a malaria-free future,” Ghebreyesus said.
WHO regional director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, emphasised the importance of this recommendation for the continent, saying: “This second vaccine holds real potential to close the huge demand-and-supply gap. Delivered to scale and rolled out widely, the two vaccines can help bolster malaria prevention and control efforts and save hundreds of thousands of young lives in Africa from this deadly disease.”
WHO also issued recommendations on the advice of SAGE for new vaccines for dengue and meningitis, along with immunisation schedule and product recommendations for COVID-19.
SAGE recommended that the vaccine be considered for introduction in settings with high dengue disease burden and high transmission intensity to maximise the public health impact and minimise any potential risk in seronegative persons.
SAGE recommended that the vaccine be introduced to children aged 6 to 16 years of age. Within this age range, the vaccine should be introduced about 1-2 years prior to the age-specific peak incidence of dengue-related hospitalizations. The vaccine should be administered in a 2-dose schedule with a 3-month interval between doses.
SAGE recommended that vaccine introduction should be accompanied by a well-designed communication strategy and community engagement.
Demand for malaria vaccines is unprecedented, however, available supply of RTS,S is limited.
The addition of R21 to the list of WHO-recommended malaria vaccines is expected to result in sufficient vaccine supply to benefit all children living in areas where malaria is a public health risk.
