Researchers based at the University of Oxford have developed a malaria vaccine which provides up to 80 per cent protection against the disease.

Scientists at the university carried out a trial of the vaccine which showed that a booster dose at one year after a primary three-dose regime maintained high efficacy against malaria and meets the World Health Organisation’s ‘Malaria Vaccine Technology Roadmap’ global target of a vaccine with at least 75 per cent efficacy.

“We are delighted to find that a standard four dose immunisation regime can now, for the first time, reach the high efficacy level over two years that has been an aspirational target for malaria vaccines for so many years,” said Professor Adrian Hill, the University of Oxford’s director of the Jenner Institute and Lakshmi Mittal and Family Professor of Vaccinology, and co-author of the paper.

The researchers report a vaccine efficacy of 80 per cent in a higher-dose adjuvant group, and 70 per cent in the lower dose adjuvant group, over 12 months of follow-up.

Antibody levels were restored to similar levels as those following the primary vaccinations 28 days after the booster doses were administered.

According to the BBC, the scientists said that the vaccine is cheap and that the university has a deal to develop over 100 million doses a year.

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