A malaria vaccine is approved by the World Health Organisation
It reduces the number of severe malaria cases by 30%
MALARIA IS ONE of medical science’s most formidable foes. The search for a vaccine has been going on for decades. Dozens of candidates have been tested in recent years. But so far only one, a jab called RTS,S, made by GlaxoSmithKline, has proved effective in the final stages of clinical trials. On October 6th the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended RTS,S for use in childhood vaccination in places with transmission of Plasmodium falciparum, the deadliest of the five parasites that cause malaria, and the most common in Africa.
This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Ready to roll”
From the October 9th 2021 edition
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