Ghana approves Oxford malaria vaccine

In a breakthrough move, Ghana becomes the first country to approve the Oxford malaria vaccine, touted to be “highly effective”, the R21 vaccine is cleared in West Africa as funding concerns remain. 

Ghana is the first country to approve the malaria vaccine developed at UK’s prestigious Oxford University. The R21/Matrix-M vaccine has been cleared for use by Ghana’s Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) for children between the ages of five and thirty-six months, as this is the group at the highest risk of death from malaria. 

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The vaccine is the first to meet the World Health Organization (WHO)’s target of seventy-five percent efficacy. Director of the Jenner Institute, Prof. Adrian Hill, said: “This marks a culmination of 30 years of malaria vaccine research at Oxford”. According to Prof. Hill, the vaccine is such that it can be adequately supplied to countries that are most in need of it. 

On the other hand, experts have cautioned that it is “no silver bullet” as far as the global fight against malaria is concerned. According to WHO estimates, 619,000 lives were lost in 2021 alone, of which a vast majority were African children from the sub-Saharan region. Especially in Ghana, where the disease is at an endemic level, there are an estimated 3.5 million cases of which there are 12,500 recorded deaths.

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Despite approval from Ghana’s FDA, WHO has yet to recommend the widespread use of the breakthrough vaccine, which leaves concerns for necessary international funding. 

NEW: Malaria vaccine developed by the University of Oxford receives regulatory clearance for use in Ghana 🇬🇭.

The vaccine will be manufactured by @SerumInstIndia using @Novavax's adjuvant technology.

Today marks the vaccine's first regulatory clearance for use in any country.

— University of Oxford (@UniofOxford) April 13, 2023

According to a The Guardian report, the vaccine is currently in its phase 3 trial and has shown an efficacy of 75% to date. In comparison, the RTS,S vaccine which is normally recommended by WHO since 2021 has more “modest efficacy levels” reported The Guardian.

Meanwhile, the Serum Institute of India, known for manufacturing the R21 vaccine has said that it has the potential to manufacture over 200 million doses per year. Adar Poonawalla, CEO of the Serum Institute said: “Developing a vaccine to greatly impact this huge disease burden has been extraordinarily difficult”.

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The R21/Matrix-M vaccine has shown efficacy levels of 77%. Photograph: Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images

Poonawalla added that the institute remains “steadfast” in its commitment to improving production in order to help “support global efforts towards saving lives”.

On the other hand, Javier Guzman who is the director of global health policy at the Center for Global Development said that although the news of the R21 vaccine is “exciting” it does not ensure donors like Gavi, part of the vaccine alliance, would fund it. According to Guzman, such agencies require a bill of approval that the “vaccine is considered safe, effective and quality assured by the WHO pre-qualification programme”. 

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