RTS,S is the first malaria vaccine evaluated by WHO as “safe and effective,” helping to “significantly reduce acute malaria.”
Health workers administering malaria vaccine to children in Gisambai, Kenya. (Photo: AFP/TTXVN)
On July 5, WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus announced that the RTS,S malaria vaccine developed by British pharmaceutical company GSK is “safe and effective,” and it helps to “significantly reduce acute malaria.”
According to reporters in Africa, during a press conference, the WHO Director-General emphasized that RTS,S is the first malaria vaccine.
He highlighted that malaria remains one of the leading causes of death in Africa.
Nearly 500,000 children under the age of five die from malaria in the continent each year.
The RTS,S vaccine has been administered to over 1.6 million children in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi as part of a pilot program.
However, WHO’s Director of Immunization, Vaccines, and Biologicals, Katherine O’Brien, warned that despite this “new tool,” it is crucial to remember that nearly every minute, a child dies from malaria.
Ms. O’Brien emphasized: “I think it’s really important to remember that nearly every minute a child dies from malaria, and introducing the malaria vaccine as an additional tool in our toolbox to combat this serious disease, preventing these deaths, is a truly necessary step.”
According to United Nations studies, climate change is increasing the number of mosquitoes that carry malaria.
