The World Health Organisation (WHO), yesterday, published an updated position paper on the RTS,S/AS01 (RTS,S) malaria vaccine with the October 2021 recommendations.
It canvassed the wider use of the vaccine among children living in areas of moderate-to-high Plasmodium falciparum malaria transmission, as the paper complemented the recent addition of the recommendation to the WHO guidelines for malaria.
Director of the Department of Immunisation, Vaccines and Biologicals, Dr. Kate O’Brien, said: “The first malaria vaccine is a major step forward for malaria control, child health and health equity. If implemented broadly, the vaccine could save thousands of lives each year.
“This guidance is essential to countries as they consider whether and how to adopt the vaccine as an additional tool to reduce child illness and deaths from malaria.”
WHO recommends the RTS,S/AS01 malaria vaccine for the prevention of Plasmodium falciparum malaria in children living in regions with moderate to high transmission, as defined by the WHO.
The recommendation was recently added to the WHO’s consolidated malaria guidelines on the MAGICapp platform and aggregated its most up-to-date recommendations for malaria in a user-friendly online platform, as well as encouraged countries to adapt the recommendation to local settings.
Director of the WHO Global Malaria Programme, Dr. Pedro Alonso, said: “In recent years, the organisation has been advising countries to discard a ‘one-size fits all’ approach to malaria control and apply tools informed by local data and disease patterns. The vaccine is a breakthrough addition to the malaria toolkit.”
The paper, published in the WHO’s Weekly Epidemiological Record, summarises essential background information on the global malaria context and disease patterns. It presents available RTS,S evidence, addresses the role of RTS,S among other preventive measures and outlines recommendations for broader deployment of the vaccine.
In addition, the paper identified research priorities for the vaccine and considerations for immunization and health systems, described the development of a framework to guide the allocation of initial limited doses of malaria vaccine, while supplies of RTS,S are expected to be limited in the short to medium-term.
The paper and the update to the WHO guidelines for malaria incorporate the October 2021 recommendation on the malaria vaccine, which was informed by a full evidence review of RTS,S by WHO’s global advisory bodies for malaria and immunisation–the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on immunisation and the Malaria Policy Advisory Group (MPAG) approved by the WHO Guidelines Review Committee.
This newly published guidance will be followed by additional tools and information to guide countries that have decided to adopt the malaria vaccine – including a new malaria vaccine introduction guide and an operational manual for sub-national tailoring of malaria control tools.
