There is now a vaccine for Malaria and the world’s first “routine” implementation of the vaccination began in the African nation of Cameroon.
Malaria is one of those deadly diseases seen in the movies that seem to only affect people in exotic places like the Far East. The idea of a vaccination seemed a fantasy. But if they can find one for Chicken Pox they can find a vaccine for anything.
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More and more, diseases that affect the world’s poor and the people of the third world are becoming things of the past, relegated to history. And now Malaria can be added to that list.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, Malaria is a serious and sometimes fatal disease caused by a parasite that commonly infects a certain type of mosquito which feeds on humans. People who get malaria are typically very sick with high fevers, shaking chills, and flu-like illness. Four kinds of malaria parasites infect humans: Plasmodium falciparum, P. vivax, P. ovale, and P. malariae. Although malaria can be a deadly disease, illness and death from malaria can usually be prevented.
About 2,000 cases of malaria are diagnosed in the United States each year. The vast majority of cases in the United States are in travelers and immigrants returning from parts of the world where malaria transmission occurs, including sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
The CDC says that globally, the World Health Organization estimates that in 2020, 241 million clinical cases of malaria occurred, and 627,000 people died of malaria, most of them children in Africa. Because malaria causes so much illness and death, the disease is a great drain on many national economies. Since many countries with malaria are already among the poorer nations, the disease maintains a vicious cycle of disease and poverty.
Wilfred Fon Mbacham, a professor of public health and biotechnology and a tribal leader in Cameroon, spoke with America’s National Public Radio (NPR) about his own experience suffering from the disease.
“I think the first time that I knew that this was malaria was when I couldn’t go to school, as young in age that I was, and surviving it with a lot of muscular aches, fatigue and headaches and fever,” he said.
“The other aspect of malaria is that it affects cognition. And therefore, without malaria, you’ll be able to take your exams and write and feel that you’ve actually gained something in school.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) 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 25-29 September.
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. Malaria, a mosquito-borne disease, places a particularly high burden on children in the African Region, where nearly half a million children die from the disease each year.
“As a malaria researcher, I used to dream of the day we would have a safe and effective vaccine against malaria. Now we have two,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “Demand for the RTS,S vaccine far exceeds supply, so this second vaccine is a vital additional tool to protect more children faster, and to bring us closer to our vision of a malaria-free future.”
