Press Statement on
First Malaria Vaccine Approved by the World Health Organization
delivered 6
October 2021
Thank you. Thank you, Carla.
Dear colleagues and friends, as
some of you may know, I started my career as a malaria researcher, and I longed
for the day that we would have an effective vaccine against this ancient and
terrible disease.
And today is that day, an historic day. Today, WHO is recommending the broad use
of the world’s first malaria vaccine. This recommendation is based on results
from an ongoing pilot program in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi that has reached more
than 800,000 children since 2019. This long-awaited malaria vaccine is a
breakthrough for science, child health and malaria control.
Using this vaccine in addition to existing tools to prevent malaria could save
tens of thousands of young lives each year. We have made incredible progress in
the fight against malaria in the past two decades. Since 2000, malaria deaths
have fallen by more than half, and we have succeeded in eliminating malaria from
many parts of the world.
But globally, progress has stalled at an unacceptably high level, with more than
200 million cases and 400,000 deaths every year. Two thirds of those deaths are
children under five in Africa. WHO has said consistently that we need new tools
to get malaria control back on track. Two years ago, WHO and our partners began
a pilot program to roll out this vaccine in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi. Here is
what we have learned.
This vaccine can be delivered through child health clinics by ministries of
health and readily reach children at high-coverage levels. Community demand for
the vaccine is strong. It has broad reach to children, including the most
vulnerable, who may not use a bed net, thereby expanding access to preventive
measures to children at risk. It is safe.
It significantly reduces life-threatening severe malaria, and we estimate it to
be highly cost-effective. This is a powerful new tool, but like COVID-19
vaccines, it’s not the only tool. Vaccination against malaria does not replace
or reduce the need for other measures, including bed nets or seeking care for
fever. Of course, the key to any public health handover of this size and scope
is partnership.
I thank the children, families and communities who have participated in this
historic pilot program. I thank the ministries of health of Ghana, Kenya and
Malawi for their leadership in embarking on these pilot programs, which have
continued despite COVID-19.
I thank the researchers in Africa who generated the data and insights that
informed this decision. This is a vaccine developed in Africa by African
scientists, and we’re very proud. I thank GlaxoSmithKline and many research
partners for creating the vaccine and [unclear] for bringing it from discovery
through development with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
And I thank Gavi, the Global Fund and
Unitaid who funded the pilot programs and
the evaluations. Malaria has been with us for millennia, and the dream of a
malaria vaccine has been a long-held, but unattainable, dream.
Today, the RTS,S malaria vaccine, more than 30 years in the making, changes the
course of public health history. We still have a very long road to travel, but
this is a long stride down that road. This vaccine is a gift to the world, but
its value will be felt most in Africa because that’s where the burden of malaria
is greatest.
Original Text Source:
WHO.int
Text Note: Minor spelling changes to
reflect standard American English
Page Created: 10/14/21
U.S. Copyright Status:
World Health Organization and used in compliance with
these terms under the following license: CC
BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.
