Malaria is a serious and life-threatening infection spread by mosquitoes. It is one of humanities’ most tenacious foes from the viral world. Now a team from Oxford and the Jenner Institute has announced the beginning of final trials on a vaccine to inoculate a person against malaria. The breakthrough is considered greater than the Covid vaccine developed during the pandemic.
Adrian Hill, director of the Jenner Institute, has said: “This was by far a much more difficult vaccine to make work.”
For decades Hill had been working towards a vaccine for malaria until the pandemic struck and all resources were diverted.
After over a century’s worth of work by scientists, Hill said: “This is what it has all been leading up to.
“Researchers have been at this since 1908. We are finally – nearly – at the finish line.”
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Early trials of the vaccine proved successful, offering 77 percent efficacy against malaria.
The final trial involves close to 5,000 children in four African nations.
Should the results prove as successful as the early trials, and the vaccine approved, thousands of lives could be saved.
On average, malaria kills a young child every minute.
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Meanwhile, officials believe the coronavirus lockdowns have played a role.
They say the lockdowns, brought in to curb the spread of COVID-19, prevented children from being exposed to common infections in their formative years.
As a result, the immune systems of thousands of children are weaker than they otherwise would have been had the restrictions not been implemented.
The virus has been reported in 12 countries around the world and continues to spread.
