The long road for vaccine development with difficulties and hopes

The R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine (which has an overall protection rate of 75%) was listed as a pre-qualified vaccine by the World Health Organization (WHO) in December 2023; as such, it is the second malaria vaccine to be authenticated by WHO after pre-qualification of the RTS, S/AS01 (overall protection rate = 55.1%,both vaccines are designed to target the circumsporozoite protein (CSP). R21 features a higher density of CSP epitopes on its surface, requiring a lower dosage than RTS,S. However, without direct comparative trials, it remains unclear which vaccine is superior.) vaccine in July 2022 [1-3].Attempts to develop an effective vaccine for malaria, one of the most severe parasitic diseases in human history, have been ongoing since the 1960s; however, the huge and complicated Plasmodium genome, the intricate life cycle of the parasite, and the diverse human immune responses that it triggers, have made this task extremely difficult.