A new malariva vaccine has been described as a “major milestone” by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
After receiving positive feedback from EMA, the European drug-testing agency, WHO announced on Friday that the news was welcoming, however, stressed that the vaccine was still in clinical trials.
The next phase will involve the assessing of the vaccine by WHO. Critical assessmen’s of rolling out the vaccine in developing countries, and availability, will be carefully looked at.
Spokesperson, Gregory Hartl, said that it was the “first time ever” a malaria vaccine had made it so far in the testing phase. He said that for many years now, people had been trying to successfully develop malaria vaccines.
WHO stressed that any financing for the vaccine must not draw resources away from existing prevention methods, such as bed nets, effective drugs and rapid diagnostic tests.
The agency said the earliest it might be licensed for countries where malaria is endemic is 2017.
