--- title: The First-Ever Malaria Vaccine Just Got A Big Break description: After nearly 30 years of development and testing, the world's first malaria vaccine Mosquirix took a major step forward canonical: https://time.com/3970282/malaria-vaccine-approved/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-24T05:00:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:29:22.593Z article:section: Health og:title: The First-Ever Malaria Vaccine Just Got A Big Break og:description: After nearly 30 years of development and testing, the world's first malaria vaccine Mosquirix took a major step forward og:url: https://time.com/3970282/malaria-vaccine-approved/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt72d574357b555cac/6987789b3c1639079745105c/health-syringe-needle-6.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: TIME.com stock photos Health Syringe Needle og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The First-Ever Malaria Vaccine Just Got A Big Break twitter:description: After nearly 30 years of development and testing, the world's first malaria vaccine Mosquirix took a major step forward twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt72d574357b555cac/6987789b3c1639079745105c/health-syringe-needle-6.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The First-Ever Malaria Vaccine Just Got a Big Break > Sponsored content. 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Dr. Kent Brantly and other health care workers talk about surviving Ebola_ by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Jul 24, 2015 5:00 AM UTC by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Jul 24, 2015 5:00 AM UTC After nearly 30 years of development and testing, the world’s first malaria vaccine got a major push forward on Friday morning. Drug maker GlaxoSmithKline announced that a European Medicines Agency (EMA) committee has given a positive recommendation for the company’s vaccine for malaria called Mosquirix (scientifically known as RTS,S). The drug is intended for children ages six weeks to 17 months living in Sub-Saharan Africa. Because the vaccine is not intended for countries outside of Africa, the European regulatory agency is not “approving” the vaccine, but offering a positive opinion that the World Health Organization (WHO) will use to create its own recommendation for the vaccine’s use. Countries in Africa will then approve the vaccine through their own regulatory agencies. Mosquirix is the first vaccine to prevent malaria in humans and was first created in 1987. The data assessed by the EMA was primarily from a phase III clinical trial of the vaccine in about 16,000 kids in multiple African countries. After 18 months, GSK reported that the vaccine had about 46% efficacy against clinical malaria and 36% efficacy against severe malaria in kids ages five to 17 months. In babies ages six to 12 weeks, the drug had a 27% efficacy against clinical malaria and 15% against severe malaria. The efficacy rates may seem low, but the researchers tell TIME that the vaccine is the only one available thus far and will save a significant number of lives that would be lost to the mosquito-borne disease. The vaccine also shows efficacy for a few years after initial vaccination. “Is there room for improvement? Yes. We can improve a lot,” says Moncef Slaoui, co-inventor of the vaccine and the Chairman of GSK Vaccines, in an interview with TIME. At the end of the study period, the researchers found that more than 6,000 cases of clinical malaria were prevented for every 1,000 children who were vaccinated in areas of high transmission. The efficacy of the vaccine was also assessed in a safe study context in which children slept with bed nets treated with insecticide, a measure not always taken. According to data provided by GSK, there were 584,000 deaths worldwide from malaria in 2013, and 90% of those deaths took place in Sub-Saharan Africa. More than 80% of the deaths occurred in kids under age five. Currently, the vaccine Mosquirix requires four doses. The first three happen a month apart from each other, and the fourth happens about 18 months later. Ensuring that parents get their children the full dosage can be challenging, but Slaoui notes that most infant vaccines require multiple doses, and while not ideal, there’s still a significant benefit with just three doses. Slaoui says GSK also has a second generation version of the vaccine in the works—one that may have even better efficacy rates. “It’s a tweak of the current vaccine,” he says. “We know the next generation is close by.” ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] When a disaster comes to the place where you are you can either choose to flea. Or to stay and respond to it. I went to Liberia in the first place to serve the people of Liberia and West Africa and Ebola outbreak didn't change that purpose. In fact it emphasized it a little more. [ MUSIC ] We first heard about Ebola in Liberia in March. I was actually at a picnic and somebody said, have you heard that there's an Ebola outbreak in Guinea and it's spread across the border to Liberia? One of our doctors was very concerned about the possibility of it coming to our. Mission Hospital. She felt that we should prepare an isolation unit. Not so much in case we had ebola, but when we, received an ebola patient. My choice to stay in Liberia and take care of patients with ebola and help fight this outbreak is really a natural response. [ MUSIC ] The day I found out that I had Ebola, it was a Saturday. It was July 26th. It was on July 22nd the last day I went to the isolation unit. Wasn't feeling really great, but it felt very much like malaria. So for the next four days, took malaria medication. I was lying in my bed, in my house, where I had been quarantined. And Dr. Lance Plyler who is the disaster response team leader for Samaritan's Purse was standing outside my bedroom window. And Dr. John Thankhouser, one of my colleagues and friends who was caring for me was in my room with me in full PPE. And Lance said, Kent bud, we have your test results. And I'm really sorry to tell you that it's positive for Ebola. [ MUSIC ] David came home. Told me that Kent Brantly had Ebola and, and that was really tough. Because Kent and Amber are not only colleagues but, but they're good friends. [ MUSIC ] And then David sat in the ICU also having Ebola. It's really a very surreal moment, it was a very solemn moment. I remember David reaching out to comfort me, put his arms around me and I just said don't and I knew how dangerous it was. My first response was okay. So what's next? What's our plan? How am I gonna tell my wife? I felt a very strange but overwhelming sense of peace. Obviously, when you get that kind of news, it's sobering and it's, it's hard to hear. At that time I was. Concerned about my family and what it would put them through for me to be sick. But I had a sense of calm that I knew I was doing what I was supposed to be doing. I didn't know whether I would live. I didn't know whether I would die. But the Lord just gave me this sense of peace. Two Americans both infected with the deadly virus are returning home to the U. S.. Doctor Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol. The first time I heard the word Ebola it was probably when they were doing all the coverage about Doctor Brantly and Nancy and then when I heard it in Dallas it was couple hours before I was about to get Mr. Duncan as, as my patient. An individual travelling from Liberia has been diagnosed with Ebola in the United States. I was just feeling confused, shock, as to how it could've gotten here. Thomas Eric Duncan, the first patient diagnosed with Ebola in the United States. Is fighting for his life. I was selected as a part of the team. There was no question in my mind whether or not I would take care of the patient or not. There was a patient in my unit on my floor and it was my job. My responsibility to take care of him. It's part of who I am. Nursing is a calling. There was a patient that needed help [ MUSIC ] I did everything that the CDC and the hospital recommended of me. How to put on the personal protective equipment, how to take it off. I even interviewed with the CDC and the hospital after I took care of Mr. Duncan, and they deemed me no risk. So it was just a shock. When I got the results back that my, I was positive for Ebola I almost didn't hear it. It's kind of a blur. My chief nursing officer Cole Edmondson, and then a CDC doctor came in the room in their full protective. Equipment. I saw his eyes and they had been red from crying and I knew immediately, when he told me, I just, my heart dropped. And it was a devastating news. It really was. [ MUSIC ] Because Mr. Duncan had died. Three days prior. I think flashback started coming to my head of how his disease progressed. And eventually it led to his death. Even after the last case of Ebola is finished there's gonna be a. Very broken and weak healthcare system that's gonna need to be rebuilt. Our concern and our great hope is that even though it's quieted down here, that we will not allow it to just not be addressed anymore. We live in a global community. We need to. Recognize that people on the other side of the world, they are our neighbors, and we need to treat them with love and compassion, and respect, just like we do to the person who lives in the house next door to us. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3970282/malaria-vaccine-approved/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3970282/malaria-vaccine-approved/"},"headline":"The First-Ever Malaria Vaccine Just Got a Big Break","datePublished":"2015-07-24T05:00:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-05T08:29:22.593Z","description":"Drugmakers received a thumbs up from European regulators, moving the vaccine closer to human use","url":"https://time.com/3970282/malaria-vaccine-approved/","keywords":["medicine","Africa","Malaria","vaccine"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt72d574357b555cac/6987789b3c1639079745105c/health-syringe-needle-6.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt72d574357b555cac/6987789b3c1639079745105c/health-syringe-needle-6.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TIME.com stock photos Health Syringe Needle","caption":"TIME.com stock photos Health Syringe Needle","creditText":"Elizabeth Renstrom—TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/medicine/","name":"medicine"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3970282/malaria-vaccine-approved/","name":"The First-Ever Malaria Vaccine Just Got a Big Break"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Know Right Now: Malaria Vaccine Passes First Major Hurdle","description":"After nearly 30 years of development and testing, the world’s first malaria vaccine got a major push forward on Friday morning.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/oQb32spa/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-07-24T07:57:26.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/oQb32spa.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3970282/malaria-vaccine-approved/","duration":"PT1M5S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3970282/malaria-vaccine-approved/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Ebola Fighters in the U.S. - TIME's Person of the Year 2014","description":"Dr. Kent Brantly and other health care workers talk about surviving Ebola","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/SBg4j1BY/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-12-10T11:44:12.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/SBg4j1BY.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3970282/malaria-vaccine-approved/","duration":"PT6M15S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3970282/malaria-vaccine-approved/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```