First Malaria Vaccine Recommendation

The World Health Organization recommendation, issued in October 2021, of broad use of the RTS,S/AS01 malaria vaccine among children living in regions with moderate to high Plasmodium falciparum transmission, the first such recommendation for a malaria vaccine. The vaccine has been shown to significantly reduce malaria, and deadly severe malaria, among young children. A second safe and effective vaccine, R21/Matrix-M, was recommended in October 2023, and the vaccines are being rolled out in routine childhood immunization programmes across Africa, where they are expected to save tens of thousands of young lives each year, with the highest impact when introduced alongside other recommended interventions such as bed nets.