Malaria Vaccine Rollouts : Shared by John Gilmartin

Gavi’s current report on malaria vaccine rollouts.

John

Rolling out vaccines to beat malaria together: Time to harness the power of immunisation for a malaria-free future

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance – Insight paper, April 2025

Click here for the article

Summary
This insight paper reviews the rollout of the RTS,S and R21 malaria vaccines in countries with moderate and high transmission, noting that in 2023 malaria caused an estimated 263 million cases and nearly 600,000 deaths, mostly among children in the WHO African Region. The vaccines, which have been shown to cut clinical malaria cases by more than 50% in the 12 months after the initial three-dose series, have already seen more than 24 million doses delivered to 20 countries, offering a major opportunity to save lives and reduce the broader social and economic toll of malaria.

The report stresses that malaria vaccines are not a stand-alone solution and must be integrated into broader control strategies, including insecticide-treated nets, indoor residual spraying, seasonal malaria chemoprevention, and effective diagnosis and treatment. It highlights ongoing challenges such as constrained health budgets, workforce and access barriers in fragile and remote settings, operational and supply hurdles in scaling up vaccination, and the threat posed by misinformation and mistrust around new vaccines.

Gavi calls on governments in malaria-endemic countries to invest in introducing and scaling malaria vaccines as part of their national malaria programmes, to integrate immunisation and malaria services, and to prioritise community engagement and peer-to-peer learning to maximise impact. It urges global and regional health organisations to coordinate better, support integration of vaccines into malaria strategies, listen to country demands, and back further research, while donors are asked to provide sustained financing for malaria vaccine programmes to save lives, protect health and strengthen global health security.

Quotes
“After decades as a promise for the future, the first vaccine to prevent malaria was recommended for use by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2021, followed by a second in 2023.”

“The RTS,S and R21 vaccines have been shown to reduce clinical malaria cases by more than 50% in the 12 months after three initial doses.”

“Rolling out the vaccines further in these countries and others presents a major opportunity to save and improve lives in at-risk and vulnerable communities.”

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