A test run of the world’s first malaria vaccine before its wide-scale use has been recommended by World Health Organisation (WHO) experts. The possible large-scale roll-out of the vaccine is likely to be delayed by three to five years after the decision.

Mosquirix by pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) could possibly prevent millions of malaria cases in young African children. However, its effectiveness is less compared to vaccines for other diseases. The concerns are also compounded by the uncertainties surrounding the administration of the drug, which require four doses.

Jon Abramson, chairman of the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE), said that three to five demonstration projects have been recommended by experts for kids aged between 5 and 17 months, Reuters reports. SAGE did not recommend Mosquirix use for young babies.

“If we can’t get four doses of this vaccine into the children, we’re not going to be using it,” Abramson told Reuters.

The hopes to eradicate the mosquito-borne disease were dampened by the malaria vaccine trial data from 2011 and 2012. Only 27 per cent reduction in malaria incidence among babies aged 6-12 weeks, and a 46 per cent reduction in malaria incidence among 5- to 17-month-old babies was reported. Some of these could also be attributed to genetics.

Pharmaceutical company GSK expressed its willingness to work with WHO to support the availability of the malaria vaccine on a pilot basis.

“We hope this will provide the additional information needed about how to best deliver the vaccine in a real-world setting,” said a spokeswoman, according to Reuters. “What we are recommending is that before we have widespread use of this vaccine - and we wouldn’t necessarily use it in a very low incidence area, but in all medium and high areas - that we know that we can get that fourth dose in,” Abramson shared. The vaccine would likely cost US$20 (approx. AUD $28) for a four-dose course.

In 2015 alone, 214 million cases of malaria have been estimated, causing around 438,000 deaths. Alternative malaria vaccines from other pharmaceutical companies may take another five to ten years to be licenced.

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