VOA健康报道2023--WHO Approves a Second Malaria Vaccine

WHO Approves a Second Malaria¹ Vaccine²

The World Health Organization (WHO) approved a second malaria vaccine last week. The decision could offer a less costly³ and readily available shot to help fight the disease.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the U.N. health agency approved the new malaria vaccine based on advice from two expert groups. They suggested the shot could be given to children at risk of the disease.

"As a malaria researcher, I used to dream of the day we would have a safe and effective vaccine against malaria. Now we have two," Tedros said.

Britain's Oxford⁴ University developed the new three-shot vaccine along with the Serum⁵ Institute of India. Research suggests it is more than 75 percent effective. The vaccine can protect people for another year with an additional shot called a booster. Tedros said the shot would cost about $2 to $4 and could be available in some countries next year.

Earlier this year, health officials in the African countries of Ghana and Burkina Faso also approved the vaccine.

Infected mosquitos spread the parasitic⁶ disease when they bite people.

"This is one more tool we will now have, but it's not going to replace bed nets and spraying insecticides," said John Johnson of the aid group Doctors Without Borders. "This is not the vaccine that's going to stop malaria," he added. Johnson was not part of the expert groups that advised the WHO.

The WHO approved the first malaria vaccine in 2021. The U.N. agency described the vaccine development as an "historic" effort to end the deadly disease in Africa. The continent is home to most of the world's estimated 200 million malaria cases and 400,000 malaria deaths.

But that vaccine, known as Mosquirix and made by GSK, is only about 30 percent effective. The treatment requires four shots and becomes less effective within months.

WHO experts, however, said the data to date on the GSK and Oxford-developed vaccines⁷ does not show which one is more effective.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation had been one of the GSK vaccine's biggest financial supporters. But, the non-profit ended its support for Mosquirix last year. It said the GSK shot was less effective than officials would like and that money would be better used elsewhere.

"The big difference with these two vaccines is access," Johnson told the Associated Press. He noted⁸ that about 10 countries or more could get the GSK vaccine in the next few years.

GSK has said it can only produce about 15 million treatments a year. The Serum Institute has said it could make up to 200 million treatments of the Oxford vaccine a year.

Alister Craig is with Britain's Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. He said countries still waiting for the GSK vaccine should turn to the Oxford vaccine instead.

If the new vaccine is widely available across Africa, it could greatly reduce severe sickness and deaths caused by malaria in a few years, Craig said.

Neither of the vaccines stops transmission of malaria. As a result, immunization campaigns alone would not be enough to prevent epidemics⁹. And, reports of resistance to malaria drugs are on the rise.

"You would be foolish to think that this vaccine is going to be the end of the malaria story," Craig said.

Dengue vaccine

In a separate decision, the WHO's expert group also approved the dengue vaccine made by Takeda. European Union drug officials approved the dengue vaccine earlier.

The WHO advised that the dengue vaccine be used in children aged¹⁰ 6 to 16 in countries where the disease is widespread.

Dengue killed almost 1,000 people this year in Bangladesh.

Words in This Story

parasitic - adj. living in another animal or person

spray - v. to put a stream of small drops of liquid on (someone or something)

insecticide - n. a chemical substance used to kill insects

access - n. a way to get to something

transmission - n. the act or process by which something is spread or passed on

1 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。

2 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

3 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

4 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

5 serum   

n.浆液，血清，乳浆

参考例句：

• The serum is available to the general public.一般公众均可获得血清。
• Untreated serum contains a set of 11 proteins called complement.未经处理的血清含有一组蛋白质，共11种，称为补体。

6 parasitic   

adj.寄生的

参考例句：

• Will global warming mean the spread of tropical parasitic diseases?全球变暖是否意味着热带寄生虫病会蔓延呢？
• By definition,this way of life is parasitic.从其含义来说，这是种寄生虫的生活方式。

7 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

8 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

9 epidemics   

n．流行病

参考例句：

• Reliance upon natural epidemics may be both time-consuming and misleading. 依靠天然的流行既浪费时间，又会引入歧途。
• The antibiotic epidemics usually start stop when the summer rainy season begins. 传染病通常会在夏天的雨季停止传播。

10 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。