Ghana has approved a new malaria vaccine, R21, which has been hailed as a “world-changer” by the scientists who developed it.

According to BBC, the vaccine appears to be highly effective, marking a significant breakthrough in the fight against malaria, which kills around 620,000 people annually, mostly children.

Ghana’s drug regulators evaluated the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness using final trial data, which is yet to be published and approved its use. The World Health Organization is also considering approving the vaccine.

Previous attempts to develop a malaria vaccine have been a massive, century-long scientific undertaking, as BBC notes. However, preliminary trial data from Burkina Faso indicates that the R21 vaccine is up to 80% effective when given in three initial doses, followed by a booster after one year.

The results of a larger trial involving nearly 5,000 children, which were expected to be published by the end of 2022, have not yet been released. Nevertheless, Ghana’s Food and Drugs Authority has approved the vaccine’s use in children aged between five months and three years old, and other African countries are studying the data.

Prof. Adrian Hill, director of the Jenner Institute at the University of Oxford, where the vaccine was invented, expects R21 to have a significant impact on malaria mortality in children in the coming years.

He stated, “We expect R21 to make a major impact on malaria mortality in children in the coming years, and in the longer term [it] will contribute to the overall final goal of malaria eradication and elimination.”

The Serum Institute of India is preparing to produce between 100-200 million doses of the vaccine annually, with a vaccine factory being constructed in Accra, Ghana.

Each dose of R21 is expected to cost a couple of dollars.

Adar Poonawalla, CEO of the Serum Institute, said: “Developing a vaccine to greatly impact this huge disease burden has been extraordinarily difficult.” He added that Ghana, as the first country to approve the vaccine, represents a “significant milestone in our efforts to combat malaria around the world.”