Ghana takes lead in approving new malaria vaccine

Ghana’s Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) is reported to have assessed the final trial data on new malaria vaccine R21.

The vaccine is said to be hugely effective as compared to previous ones.

BBC’s health and science correspondent James Gallagher reports that the FDA intends to use the drug though it is not yet public.

It will be used in children aged between five months and three years old.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is also considering approving the trial.

“We expect R21 to make a major impact on malaria mortality in children in the coming years, and in the longer term [it] will contribute to overall final goal of malaria eradication and elimination,” the director of manufacturers Jenner Institute at the University of Oxford, Prof Adrian Hill, is quoted as saying.

Each dose of R21 is expected to cost a couple of dollars.

The Serum Institute of India, which led in the production of Covid-19 vaccines AstraZeneca, is preparing to produce between 100-200 million doses of the new malaria vaccine per year.

The Institute wants to also set up a factory in Ghana to aid in the production.

“Developing a vaccine to greatly impact this huge disease burden has been extraordinarily difficult,” CEO of the Serum Institute Adar Poonawalla is quoted as saying.

Malaria kills about 620,000 people each year, most of them young children.