New malaria vaccines show promise

Abstract

Two experimental malaria vaccines have delivered promising results in first-in-human trials, demonstrating how genetic engineering is driving a new wave of vaccines that could protect people from this killer disease. The World Health Organization estimates that there are more than 200 million cases of malaria each year, causing almost half a million deaths. Although malaria can be treated with drugs, researchers have spent decades trying to develop vaccines that could prevent and potentially even help eradicate malaria. In 2019—after 32 years of development and clinical trials—a vaccine called Mosquirix (also known as RTS,S) was finally rolled out to young children in pilot programs across three African countries. Mosquirix acts against the most deadly form of human malaria, caused by the parasite Plasmodium falciparum. It is the only malaria vaccine to move beyond Phase III clinical trials, but it is no silver bullet. The vaccine only prevents about 40% of malaria