WHO recommends malaria vaccine made by Oxford University, Serum Institute; roll out expected in mid-2024

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday recommended a new malaria vaccine, R21/Matrix-M, to curb the life-threatening disease spread to humans by certain mosquitoes. The R21/Matrix-M vaccine is the second malaria vaccine recommended by WHO, following the RTS,S/AS01 vaccine, which received a 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, WHO said in a statement. "The addition of R21 to the list of WHO-recommended malaria vaccines is expected to result in sufficient vaccine supply to benefit all children living in areas where malaria is a public health risk," it stated.

“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,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

R21/Matrix-M: When will the second vaccine for malaria be available?

R21/Matrix-M, developed by Britain's University of Oxford, will become available by mid-2024. Each dose would cost between $2 and $4. R21/Matrix-M is mass manufactured by Serum Institute of India and uses Novavax's Matrix M adjuvant.

"WHO is now reviewing the vaccine for prequalification, which is WHO stamp of approval, and will enable GAVI (a global vaccine alliance) and UNICEF to buy the vaccine from manufacturers," Tedros said, as quoted by Reuters.

Adar Poonawalla, CEO of Serum Institute of India, said it had already produced more than 20 million doses in anticipation of WHO's recommendation.

"We will ramp it up as per what the demand requirements are," he said in an interview. "We hope that by the end of 2024, there will be zero mismatch of demand and supply, with our supply coming into the system."

The vaccine will compete against the RTS,S shot by GSK Plc, which was recommended by the United Nations-agency in 2021 and sold under the brand Mosquirix.

Malaria kills over 600,000 each year globally, most of them children in Africa.

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