Hundreds of thousands of children die each year from malaria, a devastating mosquito-borne disease. A new vaccine may help diminish such deaths.
A new malaria vaccine for children has shown promising results and gives hope to those under 5, who constitute nearly all of the deaths from the disease in Africa, where it's most prevalent.
The mosquito-borne affliction kills more than 600,000 each year, and scientists have been working for years on vaccines.
The West African nation of Ghana recently became the first to approve the vaccine from Oxford University. It will be given to children between the ages of five months and 3 years.
The R21 vaccine has been given to 4,000 infants in six African countries. Oxford researchers said stage two and three trials proved to be effective in 75% of recipients.
The trials began in 2019.
Africa was chosen for the trials because 96% of malaria deaths in the continent are children under 5.
According to the most recent data from the World Health Organization, 247 million people contracted the devastating disease in 2021, resulting in 619,000 deaths.
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