Historical Success: It’s time say goodbye to malaria from the world, vaccine developed

New Delhi: Everyone will now get rid of malaria. The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that it will introduce the world’s first anti-malaria vaccine in three African countries. The “Muscurix” vaccine, manufactured by Glaxo SmithKine (GSK), is about 30 percent effective and needs to be taken in four doses. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation provided $200 million to build the vaccine. The WHO has said that the vaccine is a historic achievement in the fight against malaria.

However, in view of its high cost, the foundation has withdrawn its hands from the mission of distributing it to the people. This week, the foundation told the Associated Press that it will no longer fund the vaccine.

Philip Welkhoff, the director of the Malaria Program of Gates Foundation, explained the situation in this regard. He said, “The effectiveness of the malaria vaccine is much less than what we want”. The vaccine is also expensive and getting it to the right people is critical. If we want to save more lives, we have to look at both the cost and quality of vaccines. Welkhoff said, “The Gates Foundation has decided to withdraw from this project after much thought”.

Welkhoff said, “The Gates Foundation will support the vaccine project ‘Gavi’”. Under this project, the people of three African countries Ghana, Kenya and Malawi will get this vaccine. For this, the foundation has invested about 15.6 million US dollars.

“It’s not the largest vaccine in the world, but its use can have a huge impact,” said Dean Ellester Craig, a biologist at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. “It’s not that we have a lot of options”, Craig added. Another vaccine is likely to be approved in the next five years. But many people could die if we wait until then.