World Health Organization has announced steps in the distribution of the world’s first authorized Malaria vaccine in three African countries.
WHO endorsed the vaccine last fall as a “historic” breakthrough in the fight against malaria but the Gates Foundation told media that it will no longer financially support the shot.
Some scientists say they are mystified by that decision, warning it could leave millions of African children at risk of dying from malaria as well as undermine future efforts to solve intractable problems in public health.
The vaccine, sold by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) as Mosquirix, is about 30 percent effective and requires four doses.
The malaria vaccine has “a much lower efficacy than we would like,” Philip Welkhoff, the Gates Foundation’s director of malaria programs, told the AP.
Explaining its decision to end support after spending more than $200m and several decades getting the vaccine to market, he said the shot is relatively expensive and logistically challenging to deliver.
“If we’re trying to save as many lives with our existing funding, that cost-effectiveness matters,” he said.
The Gates Foundation’s decision to pivot away from supporting the rollout of the vaccine in Africa was made years ago after detailed deliberations, including whether the foundation’s money would be better spent on other malaria vaccines, treatments, or production capacity, Welkhoff said.
Some of the resources that might have gone into getting the vaccine to countries have been redirected to buy new insecticidal nets, for example.
“It’s not the greatest vaccine in the world, but there are ways of using it that could have a big impact,” said Alister Craig, the dean of biological sciences at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.
BY ALJAZEERA