The world health organisation has recommended the use of a second vaccine, the R21 to prevent malaria in children at risk of the disease.
This means there are now two vaccines that can help meet the high demand from malaria-endemic regions and complement the range of existing malaria preventive tools.
This recommendation by the world health organisation comes after advice received from two expert health groups.
A review of evidence from trails of the R21 vaccine, showed that in areas with seasonal transmission, it reduced symptomatic cases of malaria by 75 percent in the 12 months following a three-dose series of the vaccine,
A fourth dose given a year after the third was shown to maintain protection.
28 countries within the African region plan to introduce the WHO recommended malaria vaccine as part of their national immunization programs.
The RTS, S which is the first malaria vaccine, was recommended almost two years ago for broad use, at a cost between 2 dollars a dose
But only 18 million doses are available, while the serum institute of India has already prepared to make more than 100 million doses of the R21
The demand for the RTS, S vaccine far exceeds its supply so the R21 vaccine is a vital additional tool to protect more children faster and to bring the world closer to the vision of a malaria free world.
The world health body says the new vaccine addition will be a vital additional tool for the demand for malaria vaccines and it holds a real potential to close the huge demand and supply gap for malaria prevention control efforts to save thousands of young lives.
