Ghana has become the first country in the world to approve a new malaria vaccine from Oxford University.
The vaccine called R21 appears to be highly effective, in stark contrast to previous ventures in the same field.
Trial data from preliminary studies in Burkina Faso showed the R21 vaccine was up to 80 per cent effective when given as three initial doses, and a booster a year later, BBC reports.
Children under the age of three years old are in line to benefit from the vaccine.
Ghana’s drug regulators have assessed the final trial data on the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness, which is not yet public, and have decided to use it.
The World Health Organisation is also considering approving the vaccine.
Malaria kills about 620,000 people each year, most of them young children.
It has been a massive, century-long, scientific undertaking to develop a vaccine that protects the body from the malaria parasite, BBC said.
It noted, however, that the widespread use of the vaccine hinges on the results of a larger trial involving nearly 5,000 children.
