The vaccine is approved for use in children aged 5-36 months, the age group with the highest risk of death.
it kills about 6,20,000 people every year, mostly young children.
It is hoped that this an important first step, the vaccine will help Ghanaian and African children effectively fight malaria.
Progress in Malaria Prevention
The R21/Matrix-M vaccine has demonstrated high levels of efficacy and safety in Phase II trials, including among children who received a booster dose of R21/Matrix-M within one year of the initial three-dose regimen.
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“This marks the culmination of 30 years of malaria vaccine research at Oxford to design and deliver a highly effective vaccine that can be delivered at an adequate scale to the countries that need it most,” said R21/ principal investigator Professor Adrian Hill. The Matrix-M program at the University of Oxford, in a commentary.
SII provided vaccines and sponsored Phase III licensing clinical trials. It will also produce 100-200 million doses per year.
“Maria is a life-threatening disease that disproportionately affects the most vulnerable populations in our society and causes childhood mortality. Developing a vaccine to have a major impact on this enormous disease burden has been extraordinarily challenging,” said Adar Poonawalla, CEO, Serum Institute of India. in a statement.
He added that the company will “expand production of the vaccine to meet the needs of countries with a high malaria burden and support global efforts to save lives.”
Joint efforts pave the way for a malaria-free future
The R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine is a low-dose vaccine that can be produced on a mass scale and affordably, allowing hundreds of millions of doses to be delivered to African countries suffering from a significant malaria burden.
It is also included in the vaccine Novavax’s Matrix-M is a saponin-based adjuvant that enhances the immune system’s response, making it stronger and more durable.
Matrix-M assistant stimulates the recruitment of antigen-presenting cells at the injection site and enhances antigen presentation in local lymph nodes.
This technology has also been successfully used in Novavax’s Covid vaccine and is a key component of other vaccines in development.
Source: IANS
