World-changing news: Malaria vaccines are now working!

[ChpBstrd]

The "news" often steers us to topics that simply don't matter like the UK royalty, sports, which model is dating which actor, or stupid things celebrities said on social media. You have to dig deep for information that will dramatically change the world.

The news about successful development of 80% effective malaria vaccines that only cost a few dollars per dose qualifies as big news, and here's why: Malaria kills 400k people a year, mostly in Africa, and sickens 229 million per year. Imagine the worst days of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S, and imagine places where it is always that deadly, and has always been that deadly. A root cause of the poverty, lack of infrastructure, and warfare in many African countries is the impossibility of sustaining economic activities when people are constantly dropping out sick. Storefronts cannot remain open, fields go unharvested, projects fall behind schedule, kids drop out of school or fall behind, etc. A vaccine for malaria could transform African productivity, and the continent could look a lot different 20 years from now.

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-62797776

If nothing else, this should qualify as one of humanity's greatest victories. Walking on the moon is nothing compared to defeating malaria.

[RetiredAt63]

That is amazing wonderful news.

[former player]

What is even better is that the aim is to manufacture 100 million doses (a full course is 3 doses plus a booster after a year) within the next year and sell them for a few dollars a dose.

So the vaccine could make save tens of millions of people from catching malaria just within the next three years.

[ysette9]

Great news. Thanks for sharing.

[Tyson]

That's pretty freaking awesome.

[Fru-Gal]

I needed good news, and bam! you provided it!

[Morning Glory]

Hooray!!! I hope they get funding to roll this out to all areas affected.

[mspym]

The good news I needed right now!

[Financial.Velociraptor]

I saw that on Reuters and was delighted.  The cost profile and benefit analysis to justify governments, maybe even the US and Europe paying for this is very favorable.

It was a small Phase II study though.  A larger Phase III trial is underway and that will assess safety and effectiveness.  We likely won't know "for sure" for another year if this can be rolled out in a big way.

[Metalcat]

Niiiice.

I remember in med school where we had a lecture that basically consisted of "we're at the end of the line of our defenses against malaria, without a miracle, we're fucked."

So it's good to hear that the miracle might be on its way.

[jinga nation]

It shows three initial doses followed by a booster a year later gives up to 80% protection.

Looking forward to seeing results of the larger study coming up. Especially how long the protection lasts.

Every visit to my country of birth, have to take mefloquine or an anti-malarial drug, weeks in advance, and have to go to a doc to get a prescription. Which isn't covered by my health insurance.
Meanwhile, in East Africa, can walk into a pharmacy and buy it without a doctor's note, the same brand name Lariam or a generic.
The jabs might become a viable alternative.

[GuitarStv]

Pffft.  Look at all you sheeple believing that vaccines work!

[RetiredAt63]

Pffft.  Look at all you sheeple believing that vaccines work!

We're optimists, what can we say.    ;-)

[scottish]

There's a new lyme disease vaccine in stage 3 trials as well.    Not as big a deal as malaria, but it's a bit closer to home.

Anti-vaxxers effectively squashed the first lyme disease vaccine (lymerix) about 20 years ago. 

[GuitarStv]

Anti-vaxxers effectively squashed the first lyme disease vaccine (lymerix) about 20 years ago.

The commercials would have just written themselves!

There once was a man from nantucket
Who told lyme disease to go _____ __

Ask your doctor about Lymerix.

[RetiredAt63]

Anti-vaxxers effectively squashed the first lyme disease vaccine (lymerix) about 20 years ago.

The commercials would have just written themselves!

There once was a man from nantucket
Who told lyme disease to go _____ __

Ask your doctor about Lymerix.

Hey, you have a great future writing advertising copy.     ;-)

[RetiredAt63]

There's a new lyme disease vaccine in stage 3 trials as well.    Not as big a deal as malaria, but it's a bit closer to home.

Anti-vaxxers effectively squashed the first lyme disease vaccine (lymerix) about 20 years ago.

It's a big deal for anyone who likes to go out in summer.  A few years ago a study showed that over 50% of the ticks in western Ottawa nature areas (I think they looked at Carp trails specifically, but don't quote me) carried Lyme.  Think about anyone whose job takes them out into long grass or shrubbery or woods - they are all vulnerable/exposed/at risk.  And since doctors often don't recognize the symptoms, there are a lot of cases of long-Lyme out there.

[wenchsenior]

Good news, indeed. My husband is violently allergic to the prophylactic anti-malarial meds that are currently available. I wonder if he'll be able to tolerate the vaccine?

[wenchsenior]

There's a new lyme disease vaccine in stage 3 trials as well.    Not as big a deal as malaria, but it's a bit closer to home.

Anti-vaxxers effectively squashed the first lyme disease vaccine (lymerix) about 20 years ago.

I had not heard this! Very exciting!

[ChpBstrd]

Millions of children’s lives saved, whole nations potentially lifted out of poverty… now back to breaking news about funeral arrangements for the queen of England.

What appears on the news has a lot to do with the purchasing power of the kind of people who would be captivated by that sort of story.

[Adventine]

Really great news indeed.

Now, if someone could only come up with a better dengue vaccine, or even better, a combined malaria-dengue vaccine. That would really make my day.

[Abe]

This is great news and highlights an effective collaboration between vaccine researchers and their partners (both volunteers and healthcare workers) in areas lacking many basic resources. There are a few things worth noting:

The families were quite effective at using anti-mosquito netting, and most children received at least two months' of chemoprevention. This shows that vaccination is an additional prevention that should be done in conjunction with the above. The rates of both measures seems a bit higher than what is seen outside of trial settings. Though this was adjusted for in the analysis, larger-scale trials will provide a clearer idea of the true efficacy. This is important because the vaccine is against the blood-borne stage of the parasite's life cycle. A prior vaccine (with similar design but less effective for technical reasons) saw waning efficacy after a few years due to breakthrough infections that allowed for re-circulation of later stages of the parasite (which are not immunized against) back into mosquitos. The concern is that at two years, >50% of children in both vaccine groups had a malaria infection. While obviously much better than the baseline of almost 90%, it will be difficult to get sustained control in the long run until a combined vaccine that inhibits multiple stages of the parasite's lifecycle is developed.

The other issue is that this was done in an area with seasonal transmission of malaria. Doing a big vaccine drive right before the season is probably the most effective way to quash the spread of disease. This will be helpful in several parts of the world, and after major disasters, for example. Other areas have a non-seasonal transmission pattern, and because of the limited efficacy of the vaccine, the above resistance mechanisms will be a big issue.

We have been out-maneuvered by malaria before - hopefully resistance to the vaccines does not develop quickly like it did to anti-malaria medications and prior vaccines. While this helps a lot, the hard work remains in reducing mosquito populations by providing adequate, sanitary water and preventing mosquito bites!

[scottish]

Anti-vaxxers effectively squashed the first lyme disease vaccine (lymerix) about 20 years ago.

The commercials would have just written themselves!

There once was a man from nantucket
Who told lyme disease to go _____ __

Ask your doctor about Lymerix.

Heh.   Apparently your vet can prescribe it - for your dog though.    And....  there are dog anti-vaxxers, too!

[LD_TAndK]

There's a new lyme disease vaccine in stage 3 trials as well.    Not as big a deal as malaria, but it's a bit closer to home.

Anti-vaxxers effectively squashed the first lyme disease vaccine (lymerix) about 20 years ago.

I had not heard this! Very exciting!

If you're in the north east US you may be able to join the trial https://fightlyme.careaccess.com/

I tried a week ago, they called me within 24 hours. Unfortunately I was disqualified because I'm trying to have kids over the next 3 years.

[BicycleB]

Looking forward to wide malaria vaccine adoption, and hoping for other measures to keep getting stronger. Thanks for posting.

[FIRE Artist]

This is awesome, but I fear after seeing how challenging getting COVID shots into the arms of those on the African continent has been, I don’t have high hopes for a three dose malaria vaccine getting widely adopted.  The same logistical issues and ant-vax sentiments will present. 

[jinga nation]

This is awesome, but I fear after seeing how challenging getting COVID shots into the arms of those on the African continent has been, I don’t have high hopes for a three dose malaria vaccine getting widely adopted.  The same logistical issues and ant-vax sentiments will present.

Anti-malarial meds can be purchased OTC in several African countries. Polio vax is common too, except for the anti-vax theories pushed by fundy Islamic and Christian preachers.
Most folks want to get jabbed/medicated and move on with life in a normal fashion.

[Watchmaker]

Best news of 2022 (so far).

[Michael in ABQ]

I spent 9 months in Africa take prophylactic anti-malaria pills every day - the initial one I had to stop because it was causing some side effects with sleeping. A couple of shots would have been much easier.

[GuitarStv]

I spent 9 months in Africa take prophylactic anti-malaria pills every day - the initial one I had to stop because it was causing some side effects with sleeping. A couple of shots would have been much easier.

As a fan of gin and tonic, I often take prophylactic anti-malarial drugs.  :P

[jinga nation]

I spent 9 months in Africa take prophylactic anti-malaria pills every day - the initial one I had to stop because it was causing some side effects with sleeping. A couple of shots would have been much easier.

As a fan of gin and tonic, I often take prophylactic anti-malarial drugs.  :P

you'll need a lot of tonic water to get the sufficient quantity of quinine. and many mozzie populations are immune to quinine and old-school anti-malarials.

[GuitarStv]

I spent 9 months in Africa take prophylactic anti-malaria pills every day - the initial one I had to stop because it was causing some side effects with sleeping. A couple of shots would have been much easier.

As a fan of gin and tonic, I often take prophylactic anti-malarial drugs.  :P

you'll need a lot of tonic water to get the sufficient quantity of quinine. and many mozzie populations are immune to quinine and old-school anti-malarials.

Got it.  GnT bender it is.  :P