A malaria vaccine developed by Oxford University has received regulatory approval for use in Ghana, marking the first time the shot has been cleared anywhere in the world. The vaccine is authorized for children aged 5‑36 months, the group at highest risk of death from malaria. Oxford officials said this “first crucial step” could help Ghanaian and other African children combat the disease more effectively.
Professor Adrian Hill, chief investigator of the R21/Matrix‑M vaccine program and director of Oxford’s Jenner Institute, described the approval as the culmination of 30 years of malaria vaccine research at the university. He highlighted that the high‑efficacy vaccine can be produced at a scale sufficient to meet the needs of the most affected countries.
The approval is part of a broader effort to tackle malaria, which kills over 600,000 people each year, most of them African children. The parasite’s complex structure and life cycle have long hindered vaccine development. After decades of work, the first malaria vaccine, Mosquirix from British drugmaker GSK, was endorsed by the World Health Organization last year. However, limited funding and commercial potential have constrained GSK’s ability to produce enough doses. To date, Mosquirix has been administered to more than a million African children, showing about 60% effectiveness that declines significantly over time.
Oxford’s vaccine enjoys a manufacturing advantage through a partnership with the Serum Institute of India, which can produce up to 200 million doses annually. In contrast, GSK has pledged to supply up to 15 million doses of Mosquirix each year through 2028—far below the roughly 100 million doses per year the WHO estimates are needed for the four‑dose regimen required to protect around 25 million children long‑term.
Mid‑stage trial data published in September showed the Oxford vaccine achieved 80% effectiveness in children receiving a higher dose of the immune‑boosting adjuvant, and 70% in those receiving a lower dose, measured 12 months after the fourth dose administered before the peak malaria season in Burkina Faso. An ongoing phase III trial involving 4,800 children across Burkina Faso, Kenya, Mali and Tanzania is expected to publish results in the coming months.
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