Made with India’s help, second malaria vaccine gets WHO nod

New Delhi, October 2

The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Monday recommended a new vaccine, R21/Matrix-M, for the prevention of malaria in children. The recommendation follows advice from the WHO: Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) and the Malaria Policy Advisory Group (MPAG) and was endorsed by the WHO Director-General following its regular biannual meeting held on September 25-29 .

To be available by next year

• Oxford University developed the 3-dose vaccine with help from Serum Institute of India
• The shot would cost about $2 to $4 and could be available in some countries next year
• Research suggests it is more than 75% effective and protection is maintained for at least another year with a booster

Developed by the University of Oxford and the Serum Institute of India, leveraging Novavax’s adjuvant technology, R21/Matrix-M™ malaria vaccine demonstrates high efficacy with a reassuring safety profile. The R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine is an easily deployable vaccine that can be manufactured at mass scale and modest cost, enabling as many as hundreds of millions of doses to be supplied to countries which are suffering a significant malaria burden.

The Serum Institute of India has already established a production capacity for 100 million doses per annum, which will be doubled over the next two years. The WHO recommendation today is required for UNICEF to procure and GAVI to purchase the vaccine, paving the way for vaccination of children in populations most at risk.

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.

The second vaccine, a much cheaper version, was tested in four African countries. In 2021, 234 million cases and 5,93,000 deaths from malaria were reported in Africa alone.