A study recently published in Lancet outlines the potential public health impact of the new RTS,S vaccine designed to protect people from contracting malaria.
The study shows that over 15 years, 484 deaths and 116,500 clinical malaria cases could be avoided if 100,000 children receive vaccinations according to a schedule of four doses. These doses should be administered at ages 6, 7.5, 9 and 27 months old. This means that for every estimated 1.2 malaria cases that would be avoided for every vaccinated child, one malaria death would be avoided for each 200 children who are vaccinated.
These numbers are specifically for children who live in various regions throughout Africa. These areas have moderate to high transmission of malaria.
“We took a realistic look at expected coverage of the RTS,S vaccine in a variety of African settings and found it would have significant impact on malaria disease in all but the lowest malaria transmission regions,” Melissa Penny, study author from the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, said. “Our numbers indicate that 6 to 29 percent of malaria deaths in children younger than 5 could potentially be averted by the vaccine in the areas in which it is implemented, when used alongside other malaria control interventions.”
