Malawi becomes world’s first country to use malaria vaccine

● ‘Imperfect’ drug is no ‘silver bullet’ but will save many lives from disease

The World Health Organisation says Malawi has become the first country to begin immunising children against malaria, using the only licensed vaccine to protect against the mosquito-spread disease.

Although the vaccine only protects about one-third of children who are immunised, those who get the shots are likely to have less severe cases of malaria.

The parasitic disease kills about 435,000 people every year, the majority of them children under five in Africa.

“It’s an imperfect vaccine but it still has the potential to save tens of thousands of lives,” said Alister Craig, dean of biological sciences at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, who is not linked to WHO or the vaccine.

Craig said immunising the most vulnerable children during peak malaria seasons could spare many thousands from falling ill or even dying.

The vaccine, known as Mosquirix,wasdevelopedbyglaxosmithkline (GSK) and was approved by the European Medicines Agency in 2015.

A previous trial showed the vaccine was about 30 per cent effective in children who got four doses, but that protection waned over time.

Reported side effects include pain, fever and convulsions.

WHO’S director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus welcomed the new programme, noting progress has “stalled and even reversed” in the fight against malaria.

WHO said similar vaccination programmes would begin in the coming weeks in Kenya and Ghana, with the aim of reaching about 360,000 children across the three countries. GSK is donating up to 10 million vaccine doses.

While hailed as a potential breakthorugh in the fight against one of the world’s deadliest diseases, experts warned the vaccination programmes should not divert limited public health funds from inexpensive and proven tools to curb malaria such as bed nets and insecticides.

“This is a bold thing to do, but it’s not a silver bullet,” said Thomas Churcher, a malaria expert at Imperial College London.

“As long as using the vaccine doesn’t interfere with other efforts, like the urgent need for new insecticides, it is a good thing to do.”

Craig said one of health officials’ biggest challenges could be convincing parents to bring their children for repeated doses of a vaccine that only protects about a third of children for a limited amount of time. More commonly used vaccines, like those for polio and measles, work more than 90 per cent of the time.

“This malaria vaccine is going to save many lives, even if it is not as good as we would like,” Craig said. “But I hope this will kick-start other research efforts.”