Historical shield against malaria

Breakthrough development for malaria — For the first time, the world has a vaccine against malaria.

World Health Organization recommended new 4-dose vaccine RTS, S on Wednesday — Trial operation in 3 African countries — More widely deployed in sub-Saharan Africa. When given to children under 2 years of age, the vaccine was 30% effective against hospitalization for often fatal severe malaria.

The 30% statistic may seem modest, but for every 100,000 fully vaccinated children, 400 children can be prevented from dying, the US President’s Malaria Initiative. Coordinator Raj Panjabi told Global Pulse. This is important because mosquito-borne infections are still one of the largest child killers in the world. 260,000 children under the age of five die each year, most of them living in sub-Saharan Africa.

Another study in Burkina Faso and Mali Give children vaccines and antimalarials Before the rainy season, the number of cases and deaths can be reduced by as much as 70% compared to administration of drugs or vaccines alone.

“This vaccine is at a time when malaria progress is stagnant and is expected to work with other tools to revive progress,” said Punjabi.

In many parts of the world, mosquito nets treated with pesticides and artemisinin-based drugs are used as a shield against malaria.However, mosquitoes have stopped dying from the oldest, and some new pesticides have been used in recent years due to drug resistance of malaria parasites. Seems to be expanding From Southeast Asia to sub-Saharan Africa.Also, climate change It becomes difficult to predict When it rains, and therefore when to administer malaria prophylaxis to children and pregnant women.

The arrival of the vaccine is silver lining. Developed by GlaxoSmithKline for over 30 years and tested with financial support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Maneuver with money from Gabi, AIDS, Tuberculosis, the World Fund for Fighting Malaria, and Unite.

Who is going to pay for it? That is the next big problem. Countries that benefit most of the vaccine are also some of the poorest. The board of directors of the vaccine alliance Gavi will decide by the end of the year whether to fund the vaccines produced by Indian manufacturer Bharat Biotech, following the deal with GSK.

According to Punjabi, the president’s Malaria Initiative, which has an annual budget of $ 770 million, will not procure vaccines, but will try to expand other tools to combat disease with the deployment of vaccines.

Recommendations for broader vaccine deployments are made by the President’s Malaria Initiative Goals for the next 5 years: Reduce mortality by a third, reduce illness by 40% compared to 2015, and support at least 10 countries whose initiatives are working to eradicate illness.

To achieve these, countries funded by the initiative will be able to use the money to hire local health care workers for the first time.

“Medical progress is needed, but not enough. Punjabi is the basis of the initiative’s investment in caring for people rather than waiting for them.

Welcome to Global Pulse, Where your host was honored Talk to the Center for Strategic and International StudiesStephen Morrison and Andrew Schwartz talked about everything from how she went from Romania to the United States to whether Africa was left behind in the Covid vaccination race.

Global Pulse is a team effort.Thank my colleague Ashley Furlong And the editor Ellereyes Barbara Vantine.. Follow us on Twitter: @carmenpaun..Tips and ideas [email protected]..

Problems that never disappear — Enthusiastic about the controversy over booster shots and vaccine fairness, much of the world forgets the need for healthcare professionals to have enough personal protective equipment to treat Covid-19 patients through a wave of infection. And it seems.

The problem seems to have been solved in a rich country, but in the early days of the pandemic Price each other 60-80% of recently surveyed medical facilities in Africa said they lacked enough PPE to buy face masks. According to Peter Sands, Managing Director of Global Fund, and Director of Welcome, Jeremy Farrer.

“In the early days of the pandemic, this was an availability issue, but now it’s a money issue,” Sands told Global Pulse. Funding PPE is one of the lowest global responses to pandemics, even though it is one of the most cost-effective ways to prevent infection, especially among healthcare professionals. ..

According to Sands, the World Fund has given poor countries about $ 560 million to buy PPE since the outbreak of the pandemic, but more as the world works on highly infectious delta mutants. I need a lot of money.

This can also happen. At the beginning of the pandemic, some countries were locked out of the competition for gloves, face masks and gowns due to high prices and unprecedented demand, and began producing their own PPE. But the quality is uneven, Sands said.

Most of the supply remains concentrated in some countries. Reportedly Coordinated by Sands and Farrr. China and the United States provide more than 60% of the global amount of PPE, in addition to gloves produced primarily in Malaysia and Thailand.

The report requires that:

-Coordinated efforts to enable local PPE manufacturing. Relying on small local manufacturers cannot prevent a shortage of PPE in the new global health emergency, as it cannot compete with low-cost global market suppliers when demand falls.

-Governments and international organizations are encouraging innovations that make PPE easier to wear and reduce waste.

-Improved standards and quality.

Pandemic’s new purchase race — News of antivirals developed by Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics Seems to halve the risk The cause of hospitalization or death by Covid-19 has driven global purchasing competition.Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand Under purchase negotiations Molnupiravir, most Covid vaccines want to avoid last year’s scenario snapped by wealthy countries.Britain I’m also interested, The United States has already purchased 1.7 million courses of potential treatment for $ 700 per course.

Merck, which was released on the pill last week, said it would charge the country based on its solvency.I already have We handle 5 generic manufacturers To produce medicine for poor countries in India. Pharmaceutical companies plan to create 10 million treatment courses this year.

“The question is how quickly these generic manufacturers can expand production and get approval,” said Sands, a global fund.

Strengthen acceptance of dose donations by COVAX — According to documents obtained by POLITICO, the conditions for donating doses to COVAX, a global vaccine equity initiative, are expected to be stricter than next year. Ashley Furlong.. The COVAX will most likely require more advance notice of donations, a longer minimum shelf life of the dose provided, and less rules from the donor country as to where the dose should go. Approximately 400 million doses of 1.4 billion, which COVAX expects to provide by the end of the year, are said to be due to donations, but will get more shots from manufacturers with which COVAX deals directly. So next year it shouldn’t be that important.

Novavax in November? According to the document, Novavax has submitted a Covid vaccine candidate for emergency use to the European Medicines Agency and WHO, which is expected to be decided in November. The Indian Serum Institute, which manufactures most of the doses purchased by COVAX, is also asking WHO for an emergency use list. This approval could be a COVAX game changer that has purchased over a billion Novavax doses, most of which are manufactured by the Serum Institute.

The vaccine has proven to be more than 90% effective in preventing Covid during clinical trials, comparable to the shots developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, but approved. Crazy for production problem.

Booster split in Europe — The controversy over booster shots Split expert For the United States: The European Union is also working on this.

EMA, which recommends vaccines and drugs for use in blocks in 27 countries Said on monday A third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine could be given to all adults and defeated the US Food and Drug Administration, which only approved it for people over the age of 65 and other vulnerable groups. Both agencies have reviewed the same data, but the European decision is the result of a complex situation within the block. EMA officials said.. In addition to the three vaccines approved for use in both the EU and the United States, we also use AstraZeneca shots, which are not yet approved in the United States, in European countries, and in some cases Chinese and Russian vaccines. I am.

Some EU member states, from Belgium to Romania, have begun offering boosters without waiting for EMA recommendations.However, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control said: Politico’s Sara Wheaton “There is no urgent need to administer additional doses of vaccine to fully vaccinated individuals in the general population.” Ultimately, who should receive the booster and when it is left to the EU governments.