The rollout of two new malaria vaccines for kids must be done at a faster pace, say global health experts. Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which helps the poorest countries purchase life-saving vaccines, aims to help immunize 50 million children against malaria by 2030. The plan is to fully vaccinate infants, starting from 5 months old, with either vaccine’s four-dose shots. Some of the countries Gavi supports began administering the first vaccines against the parasitic disease in 2024. But researchers at the Center for Global Development, a think tank with offices in Washington and London, argue that more children need to be vaccinated sooner to save hundreds of thousands of lives. “Now is the time when you’ve got just gobs and gobs of kids who are medically eligible for it but aren’t going to get it,” CGD senior fellow Justin Sandefur, who led a study on the issue, told Carmen. Why it matters: A gradual rollout, which excludes children other than infants, would mean 800,000 children who could have been saved would die from malaria by 2030, Sandefur and his colleagues said. What’s next: To save more children, the CGD researchers argue that: — Donor countries such as the U.S. and the U.K.; big philanthropies; and global health organizations like the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria should support Gavi’s estimated $1.4 billion plan. Vaccinating children up to 3 years old in countries with high malaria burdens would cost another $3 billion. — The efforts should focus on vaccination with R21, the cheaper and more plentiful of the two vaccines. — Gavi and the Global Fund should help roll out the vaccine in Nigeria and Angola, which have high malaria burdens but don’t qualify for substantial support because they’re wealthier than other African countries. Even so: Scott Gordon, who heads Gavi’s Malaria Vaccine Programme, said rolling out new vaccines in low-income countries takes time and planning: “We work with countries to strengthen the necessary infrastructure, train health workers and ensure communities are ready — particularly the poor and rural communities hardest hit by malaria.” Gordon added that both vaccines, R21 and RTS,S, licensed in the past three years, are vital in the fight against malaria. A GSK spokesperson pushed back against researchers’ suggestion that the RTS,S vaccine, which the drugmaker developed, should be dropped from the current vaccination push, for the sake of affordability and speed. Having more than one vaccine manufacturer “provides long-term supply security, reducing the risk of supply shortages should one manufacturer face challenges,” the spokesperson said.
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