Malaria Vaccine Agreement Anticipates Delivery in 2024

UNICEF recently announced an agreement to secure supplies of the R21/Matrix-M™ malaria vaccine. The long-term agreement signed with Serum Life Sciences for 2024 – 2028 is conditional on vaccine pre-qualification from the World Health Organization.

Under the four-year agreement, UNICEF expects to begin delivering the R21/Matrix-M vaccine in mid-2024.

This procurement agreement will help boost the global malaria vaccine supply and accelerate equitable access for children and families. 

“It is heartbreaking and unacceptable that almost half a million children die of malaria every year. This agreement is a critical step towards protecting more children from this deadly disease,” said the Director of UNICEF Supply Division, Leila Pakkala, in a press release on October 12, 2023.

The R21/Matrix-M vaccine includes Novavax AB proprietary saponin-based Matrix-M adjuvant and is licensed to and manufactured by the Serum Institute of India Private Ltd.

The R21 was created by the University of Oxford Jenner Institute.

The R21/Matrix-M and RTS,S (Mosquirix™) malaria vaccines are the first vaccines developed against a parasitic disease. Both act against Plasmodium falciparum, the deadliest malaria parasite globally and the most prevalent in Africa.

UNICEF is the world’s largest single vaccine buyer, procuring more than two billion doses of vaccines annually for routine child immunization and outbreak response on behalf of nearly 100 countries.

Although malaria was eliminated in the United States in the mid-1950s, approximately 2,000 malaria cases are imported into the country from regions with endemic disease transmission each year, according to the U.S. CDC.

Anopheles mosquito species can transmit malaria. However, locally acquired mosquito-transmitted cases have not been identified in the U.S. since 2003.

In mid-2023, eight malaria cases (Plasmodium vivax) were identified in Florida and Texas. In both states, the locally-acquired cases occurred in the vicinity of an imported malaria case.

The U.S. reports about 1,900 travel-related malaria cases annually.

The CDC has issued various malaria outbreak alerts for endemic countries, including Costa Rica.