In July, the Malaria Vaccine Initiative announced that it would begin the largest malaria vaccine trial ever conducted in children. The vaccine trial was to take place in Mozambique.
The vaccine in question — RTS,S — has already gone through initial safety testing with human volunteers and appears safe enough. In addition, testing in adults found that the vaccine was effective in preventing malaria in about 71 percent of adults who received it.
An open question, however, is just how good it is at preventing malaria in young children. To that end, the vaccine will be administered to 2,500 children in Mozambique. Final results for the vaccine will be available in about 18 to 24 months.
If the vaccine proves effective there, research will then move on to see if it could be safely and effectively administered to infants, who face the highest death rate from malaria.
Sources:
Clinical Trial of Advanced Malaria Vaccine Candidate to Begin in Mozambique. Press Release, Malaria Vaccine Initiative, July 8, 2003.
Two thousand kids to get experimental malaria jab. Tom Clark, Nature, July 9, 2003.
Malaria Vaccine Trial To Start In Mozambique. United Nations Wire, July 8, 2003.