Historic Event: WHO Approves Malaria Vaccine for Africa

[MasterJedi]

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/06/health/malaria-vaccine-who.html?searchResultPosition=1

Some pretty historic stuff for the poorer nations around the equator and with climate change a lot of other nations soon enough.

[certified hummus supporter 🇵🇸🤝🇺🇸🤝🇺🇦]

Mashallah! Now Gavi get to work on the no-brainer decision that it's a "worthwhile investment" and get those shots rolling into the arms of those children!

[Damocles]

Based.

[Inmate Trump]

Tracking device.

[Pericles]

Hardly any of them have gotten the Covid vaccine yet, how long will this take to roll out?

[dead0man]

WHO

The World Health Organization (WHO) is recommending widespread use of the RTS,S/AS01 (RTS,S) malaria vaccine among children in sub-Saharan Africa and in other regions with moderate to high P. falciparum malaria transmission. The recommendation is based on results from an ongoing pilot programme in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi that has reached more than 800 000 children since 2019.

“This is a historic moment. The long-awaited malaria vaccine for children is a breakthrough for science, child health and malaria control,” said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “Using this vaccine on top of existing  tools to prevent malaria could save tens of thousands of young lives each year.”

Malaria remains a primary cause of childhood illness and death in sub-Saharan Africa. More than 260 000 African children under the age of five die from malaria annually.

took more than 30 years to get to this point.  There is an mRNA version coming that will only take 5 years.  It's only 50% effective, but will still save 24,000 lives annually.

Good news!

[SnowLabrador]

It's hard for me to be excited about this when there's no reason to think it'll go to people who really need it. But that's late-stage capitalism for you.

[dead0man]

It's hard for me to be excited about this when there's no reason to think it'll go to people who really need it. But that's late-stage capitalism for you.

not that I expect an answer from you, but who do you think this was done for?  Do you think there are a lot of rich white people getting malaria?

[CumbrianLefty]

BuT wHaT aBoUt ThE mIcRoChIpS?!!!!!??!!!1111!!??!!

[CumbrianLefty]

Yeah, its hard to argue this isn't good news really.

[Meclazine for Israel]

I have worked in Sub-Saharan Africa and caught malaria.

It's a pretty brutal disease for a child to get. Anything to reduce the spread will save a lot of lives.

My company could afford medical treatment. Most people catch it like a seasonal cold or flu and become resistant.

[Utah Neolib]

This will save lives throughout Africa and the world, and there’s really no reason to oppose this. I applaud the many scientists and researchers who helped develop this lifesaving vaccine.

[Frodo]

Something is better than nothing, though I really do hope that a more potent version (not unlike the Yellow Fever vaccine) will be developed in the not-too-distant future:

In clinical trials, the vaccine, made by the British pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, was effective at reducing severe malaria by only 30 percent in the first year after it was administered, according to the W.H.O. — though some experts put the figure at closer to 50 percent.

To be effective, four doses of the vaccine must be administered starting at the age of 5 months — which could pose logistical problems since delivering vaccines on the continent is already a challenge.

“The vaccine saves lives but it will not be a silver bullet,” said Dr. Githinji Gitahi, the chief executive officer for Amref Health Africa, a nongovernmental organization.

I think they can do better than this. 

[Tintrlvr]

Yeah, its hard to argue this isn't good news really.

I mean, reading between the lines this vaccine is not especially effective (similar effectiveness to the flu vaccine or possibly lower), has to be administered multiple times, may ultimately have to be administered at least annually and is only effective against one of the five types (admittedly, the deadliest type) of malaria. So better than nothing but less of a huge development than I think it's being billed as.

[CumbrianLefty]

I thought the flu vaccine works reasonably well?