the answer: Yes and no. They have been working on vaccines for years, and finally found one that gives lousy immunity after a couple of shots, but hey it's better than nothing. But other vaccines are being developed that may be a lot better.
from the Phil Inquirer:
Nine new African countries to receive millions of malaria vaccines- GAVI
which is why do they show a white guy in front of a World Economic Forum background,
Shouldn't the photo be of Africa or the WHO?
Global vaccine alliance GAVI said on Wednesday 12 countries in Africa would receive 18 million doses of malaria vaccine over the next two years, expanding access to the shots to nine new countries in the region.
italics mine...meaning the vaccines are already being used?
Ghana, Kenya and Malawi have been receiving the RTS,S vaccine since 2019 as part of a pilot program funded by GAVI and more than 1.7 million children in the countries have been dosed with it, GAVI, UNICEF and the WHO said in a joint statement...
pilot program; Read using kids as guinea pigs.
The problem is that you have to try it on humans so you find a poor country where you won't get sued and test it. If it works, you've saved hundred of lives, and if it doesn't work, well....
the news is that this vaccine is being promoted in a lot of countries who right now only are combatting malaria the old fashioned ways: Mosquito nets and draining puddles.
No more news there, but the article has a link to a story from last Sept:
Oxford malaria vaccine data bodes well for effort to combat deadly disease
...After decades of work, the only approved malaria vaccine, Mosquirix, made by British drugmaker GSK, was recently endorsed by the World Health Organization (WHO)...
The article then goes on to say it was more successful than the vaccine made by another company, GSK, who later in the article whined they need more money to supply more vaccine to poor Africans.
Most of the stories are about the older vaccine, but it is confusing because there are several vaccines out there.
now to the data:
On Wednesday, data from a
mid-stage study on more than 400 young children who received a fourth dose of the Oxford shot after the primary three-dose regimen was published in the Lancet journal.
Italics mine...note the vaccine is experimental and only in the second phase of testing. Small numbers here noted
Vaccine effectiveness was 80% in the group that received a higher dose of the immune-boosting adjuvant component of the vaccine, and 70% in the lower-dose adjuvant group, at 12 months following the fourth dose. The doses were administered ahead of the peak malaria season in Burkina Faso.
the older vaccine that was started to be developed in the 1980s had a 60 percent effectiveness, but the newer Oxford vaccine--which is only in phase two testing-- is believed to have 70-80 percent effectiveness.
this longer review says the impact was a 30 percent reduction in severe cases of malaria.
as of last October, the WHO recommends the use of one vaccine if you are going to a malaria prone area.
Historic RTS,S/AS01 recommendation can reinvigorate the fight against malaria
The recommendation is based on results from an ongoing pilot programme in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi that has reached more than 900 000 children since 2019.
Strong safety profile: To date, more than 2.3 million doses of the vaccine have been administered in 3 African countries – the vaccine has a favorable safety profile.
No negative impact on uptake of bednets, other childhood vaccinations, or health seeking behavior for febrile illness. In areas where the vaccine has been introduced, there has been no decrease in the use of insecticide-treated nets, uptake of other childhood vaccinations or health seeking behavior for febrile illness.
High impact in real-life childhood vaccination settings: Significant reduction (30%) in deadly severe malaria , even when introduced in areas where insecticide-treated nets are widely used and there is good access to diagnosis and treatment.
italics mine
Highly cost-effective: Modelling estimates that the vaccine is cost effective in areas of moderate to high malaria transmission.
and funding data for you conspiracy theorists:
,Financing for the pilot programme has been mobilized through an unprecedented collaboration among three key global health funding bodies: Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; and Unitaid.,,The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation provided catalytic funding for late-stage development of RTS,S between 2001 and 2015.
a review of the vaccine can be read here. Key issues
RTS,S/AS01 is the first malaria vaccine to be tested in Phase 3 clinical trials and the first to be assessed in routine immunization programs in malaria-endemic areas.
Results of Phase 3 testing show that among children aged 5–17 months who received 4 doses of RTS,S/AS01, vaccine efficacy against malaria was 36% over 4 years of follow-up.
Phase 3 efficacy was lower among infants who received the vaccine with other childhood vaccines at 6, 10 and 14 weeks of age, and did not justify further use in this age group.
RTS,S/AS01 shows the most benefit in areas with intense malaria transmission, including reductions in malaria cases, overall hospital admissions, and the need for blood transfusions.
WHO has recognized the public health potential of the RTS,S/AS01 vaccine and acknowledged the need for further evaluation before individual countries consider adopting its use in routine vaccination schedules. RTS,S/AS01 pilot implementation studies are underway in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi to address outstanding questions related to public health use of the vaccine.
Significant hurdles for integration of RTS,S into a country’s vaccination schedule include the need for vaccination during non-routine visits and requirement for at least four doses, including a booster given 18 months after the first dose.
so the vaccine is lousy: Many shots required and limited success, but better than nothing.
The Lancet article discussing the newer Oxford vaccine notes that the goal is to get a decent vaccine out:
The Malaria Vaccine Implementation Programme showed that RTS,S/AS01 has a favourable safety profile and was associated with a 30% reduction in cases of severe malaria.3 This followed an earlier phase 3 study, where, with a median follow-up of 48 months, vaccine efficacy against clinical malaria was 36% in infants aged 5–17 months and 26% in infants aged 6–12 weeks after four doses of the vaccine.4 However, there is still a need to identify and develop additional malaria vaccines to allow both increased vaccine supply to ensure maximum coverage of the target population and to enable the WHO goal of a malaria vaccine candidate with 75% or greater efficacy against clinical malaria to be achieved by 2030.5
all this is confusing. But this BBC article explains it all. The older vaccine helps, but the newer Oxford vaccine seems to be a lot better.
Last year, the World Health Organization gave the historic go-ahead for the first vaccine - developed by pharmaceutical giant GSK - to be used in Africa.However, the Oxford team claim their approach is more effective and can be manufactured on a far greater scale.
Trial results from 409 children in Nanoro, Burkina Faso, have been published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases. It shows three initial doses followed by a booster a year later gives up to 80% protection.
that would be good news, but again it's only phase two: phast three is going on now, and if that continues to show promise they will fast track it to be used. Because Malaria is a very dangerous diseae
So how are these vaccines made?
by adding the antigens of malaria (the target to be killed) to another virus. In this case, hepatitis B
The vaccines are built using a combination of proteins from the malaria parasite and the hepatitis B virus, but Oxford's version has a higher proportion of malaria proteins. The team think this helps the immune system to focus on malaria rather than the hepatitis.
this is similar to the AZ and Sputnik covid vaccines, which used adenovirus to help increase the immune response.
So what about mRNA malaria vaccines? This two year old article about BioNTech discusses it was being researched.
more here in a Dec2022 article from SciDaily which says they are working on mice and maybe it works.
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