Malaria vaccine hailed as possible breakthrough

A new vaccine against malaria has proven highly effective in trials, raising new hope that one of the world's deadliest diseases could be brought under control. According to the World Health Organization, malaria sickens around 230 million people a year and kills around 400,000, the majority of whom are children under the age of five.

"These are very exciting results showing unprecedented efficacy levels from a vaccine that has been well tolerated in our trial programme," said Halidou Tinto, director of the Institute of Research in Health Sciences and the trial's lead investigator, said in a statement put out by Oxford University. The new R21/Matrix-M vaccine, developed by Oxford University's Jenner Institute, has shown up to 77% effectiveness against the disease in Phase II trials. Scientists at The Jenner Institute also developed the coronavirus vaccine produced and distributed by drug company AstraZeneca.