Assessing Malaria Vaccine Efficacy

Abstract

After many years of silence, eradication of malaria is, once again, one of the top priorities on the agenda of many international health and development agencies. To meet this idealistic goal, a combination of control tools is needed. From this armentarium, a malaria vaccine is central to prevent infection and/or disease. However, numerous malaria vaccine candidates have shown limited efficacy in Phase II and III studies. One reason for these failures has been that the assessment of efficacy in the context of malaria has been difficult to standardize. In this article, we have reviewed and discussed the different ways to assess the outcome of a malaria vaccination.

Malaria: The Past and the Present

“…The main issue is P. vivax vaccine, whose research requires further investigations to identify novel vaccine candidates [46,47,48]. Despite decades of research in vaccine development, an effective antimalaria vaccine has not yet been developed (i.e., with efficacy higher than 50%) [49,50,51]. The European Union Clinical Trials Register currently displays 48 clinical trials with a EudraCT protocol for malaria, of which 13 are still ongoing clinical trials [52].…”

Malaria Vaccine Development: Previous Success, Current Status and Future Prospects

“…Malaria has been reported as one of the deadliest disease that affect people of all ages (WHO, 2018). It is more endemic and deadly in Africa compared to other regions (Rénia, 2018). Malaria is caused by five species of Plasmodium that infect humans (Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium ovale spp., Plasmodium malariae and Plasmodium knowlesi) and is transmitted by the bite of infected female Anopheline mosquitoes (Birkett, 2016).…”

“…Most malaria cases and deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa. However, the WHO regions of South-East Asia, Eastern Mediterranean, Western Pacific, and the Americas are also at risk (Rénia, 2018).…”

“…This second phase is heavily dependent on parasite exposureincreased exposure of the host is inversely proportioanal to the development of immunity. Hence, the goal of vaccine strategies is to reduce the time needed to acquire protective immunity and to make the immunity longlasting (Rénia et al, 2018).…”