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WHO Recommends Second Malaria Vaccine For Children

© AP Photo / James GathanyThis 2014 photo provided by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows a female Anopheles gambiae mosquito feeding. This insect is a known transmitter of the parasite that causes malaria.
This 2014 photo provided by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows a female Anopheles gambiae mosquito feeding. This insect is a known transmitter of the parasite that causes malaria. - Sputnik Africa, 1920, 02.10.2023
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Malaria is an infectious disease transmitted by mosquitoes that affects humans and other vertebrates. According to the World Health Organization's World Malaria Report 2022, the African region continues to bear the heaviest burden in terms of malaria, accounting for approximately 95% of cases and deaths.
The World Health Organization said Monday that its experts had recommended a second malaria vaccine for children, R21/Matrix-M, developed by Britain's Oxford University.
The R21/Matrix-M vaccine is manufactured by the Serum Institute of India and has already been approved for use in Burkina Faso, Ghana and Nigeria.
"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," said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
A research team  member looks through a microscope of bacteria use for producing anti-body against malaria at Westminster University in London. - Sputnik Africa, 1920, 20.08.2023
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In 2021, the RTS,S vaccine, produced by British pharmaceutical giant GSK, became the first to be recommended by the WHO to prevent malaria in children in areas with moderate to high malaria transmission.
The WHO's regional director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, said the new vaccine held great potential for the continent by helping 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," she said.

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