Malaria vaccine is partly effective in young children, study shows

The first malaria vaccine to reach phase III clinical testing is partly effective against clinical disease in young children in Africa, results reported in the Lancet have shown.1

The study included 6537 infants aged 6-12 weeks and 8922 children aged 5-17 months who were enrolled at 11 centres in seven countries across sub-Saharan Africa. They were randomly assigned to receive three doses of the malaria candidate vaccine RTS,S/AS01 at months 0, 1, and 2 and a booster dose at 20 months (booster group); three doses of the malaria vaccine and a dose of comparator vaccine at 20 months (no booster group); or a comparator vaccine at all time points (control group). …