UN endorses world’s 1st malaria vaccine as ‘historic moment’

By MARIA CHENG
AP Medical Writer

LONDON (AP) — The World Health Organization has endorsed the world’s first malaria vaccine and said it should be given to children across Africa in the hope that it will spur stalled efforts to curb the spread of the parasitic disease. The WHO’s director-general called it “a historic moment” after a meeting in which two of the U.N. health agency’s expert advisory groups recommended the step. WHO Africa director Matshidiso Moeti said the recommendation “offers a glimmer of hope for the continent, which shoulders the heaviest burden of the disease.” The WHO said its decision was based largely on results from research in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi that tracked more than 800,000 children who received the vaccine since 2019.