Malaria Vaccine Trials — Beyond Efficacy End Points

Plasmodium falciparum infection, malaria, continues to cause more than 1 million childhood deaths each year.1 In addition, millions of nonlethal infections affect communities on an economic basis and inhibit children from reaching their full developmental potential.2 The creation of an effective vaccine has been a long-sought, elusive goal.The first results of the phase 3 trial of the candidate malaria vaccine RTS,S/AS01, which is being conducted in seven African countries, were reported for children 5 to 17 months of age at enrollment, with a vaccine efficacy of 56% against all clinical malaria infections and 47% against severe malaria during a . . .