QUESTION

For how long does this vaccine work?

ANSWER

There is not yet a commercially available vaccine against malaria. Recently, results were published (in the New England Journal of Medicine – press releases and news reports about the study are available through the main page of www.malaria.com) presenting preliminary findings of the first Phase 3 clinical trial for a vaccine, called RTS,S. The trial will not fully conclude until 2014, and so we won’t know for a few more years exactly how effective it is or for how long. The results that were just published showed only a 50% level of protection against malaria from the vaccine (in African children, most of whom also slept under bednets and generally had access to a high standard of medical care), and that value appeared to decrease over time, with protection levels after a year only about 35%. However, these early findings are still potentially promising, especially for remote areas with low access to other more immediate health care options.