Implementation of RTS,S/AS01 Malaria Vaccine — The Need for Further Evidence

In 2015, an estimated 438,000 people died from malaria.1 The overwhelming majority of these deaths occurred in young African children who were infected with Plasmodium falciparum. An effective vaccine would represent an important additional tool in the control of malaria. The most advanced of the current candidates against P. falciparum is RTS,S/AS01, a recombinant vaccine against the pre-erythrocytic stage of the parasite in which regions of P. falciparum circumsporozoite protein are fused to hepatitis B surface antigen.2 This vaccine was developed by a public–private partnership, with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and investigators have completed a . . .