U.S Military Scientific Talent Behind First WHO Prequalified Malaria Vaccine

While malaria is no longer found in the U.S., the disease continues to be one of the most important infectious disease threats to U.S. Service Members deployed to tropical and subtropical regions. RTS,S. RTS,S/AS01 (brand name Mosquirix) is the first malaria vaccine approved for public use. It requires at least three doses in infants by age 2, with a fourth dose extending the protection for another 1–2 years. The vaccine reduces hospital admissions from severe malaria by around 30%. By September 2022, the pharmaceutical maker, United Kingdom-based GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), was granted prequalification status by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the world’s first and only approved malaria vaccine.

Importantly, this move by WHO represented the first prequalification for a malaria vaccine, representing at the time the critical step in rolling out the vaccine in countries with moderate to high P. falciparum malaria transmission. Making that decision was an essential, fundamental prerequisite for United Nations (UN) agencies such as UNICEF to procure the vaccine product in association with a Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance partnership, and eligible countries.