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Scientists hail historic malaria vaccine approval — but point to challenges ahead

The WHO-approved RTS,S vaccine has modest efficacy and requires a complex regimen of doses, so ample funding and clear communication will be crucial to success.
  1. Amy Maxmen
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More than 130 years after the naming of the Plasmodium parasites behind malaria, the world now has its first approved vaccine against them. Many malaria researchers have celebrated the development, but others have expressed concerns over the deployment of a vaccine that has only moderate efficacy.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02755-5

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 08 October 2021: An earlier version of this story incorrectly attributed the finding that the RTS,S vaccine could prevent the deaths of 23,000 children a year if a full series of doses were distributed to kids in countries with a high incidence of malaria. The correct attribution is a 2020 PLoS Medicine article.

References

  1. RTS,S Clinical Trials Partnership Lancet 386, 31–45 (2015).

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  2. Hogan, A. B., Winskill, P. & Ghani, A. C. PLoS Med. 17, e1003377 (2020)

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  3. Chandramohan, D. et al. N. Engl. J. Med. 385, 1005–1017 (2021).

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