Ghana has become the first country in the world to approve the new malaria vaccine developed by Oxford University and the Serum Institute of India PvT Ltd. While Ghana makes up only two per cent of malaria-related deaths, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the United Republic of Tanzania and Niger account for just over half of all malaria deaths worldwide.
Ghana has become the first country in the world to approve the new malaria vaccine developed by Oxford University and the Serum Institute of India PvT Ltd. The R21/Matrix-MTM malaria vaccine or R21 has been licensed by Ghana’s Food and Drugs Authority and has been approved for use in children aged 5 to 36 months.
R21 has demonstrated high levels of efficacy and safety in Phase II trials, including the children who received a booster dose of R21/Matrix-M at one year following a primary three-dose regime.
In a statement, Chief investigator, R21/Matrix-M programme, and director of the University of Oxford’s Jenner Institute at the Nuffield Department of Medicine, Professor Adrian Hill, said:
This marks a culmination of 30 years of malaria vaccine research at Oxford with the design and provision of a high efficacy vaccine that can be supplied at adequate scale to the countries who need it most. I congratulate our superb clinical trial partners in Africa who have generated the dataset supporting the safety and efficacy of the vaccine in children. As with the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, our partnership with the Serum Institute of India has been key to successful very large-scale manufacturing and rapid development.
Every year, The Republic publishes the most ambitious writing focused on Africa, from news and analysis to long-form features.
To continue reading this article, Subscribe or Register for a Free Pass.
Already a subscriber? Log in.