The World Health Organization announced this week that Malawi has become the first country to begin immunizing children against malaria. WHO officials say the country is using the only approved vaccine to protect against the mosquito-spread disease. The Associated Press says the vaccine protects about one-third of children who receive it. But those who get the shots are likely to have a less severe case of malaria. The disease kills about 435,000 people every year. In Africa, most of the victims are children under the age of 5. “It’s an imperfect vaccine but it still has the potential to save tens of thousands of lives,” notes Alister Craig. He is with the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in Britain. He added that immunizing the most at-risk children during peak malaria seasons could prevent thousands from getting sick or even dying. Craig is not linked to the malaria vaccine or the WHO. The vaccine, known as Mosquirix, is a product of the British drug company GlaxoSmithKline. It was approved by the European Medicines Agency in 2015.
