Will Malaria Vaccines Defend the USA in 2025

Over the past few years, there has been a very positive trend in reducing mosquito-transmitted malaria infections and related fatalities in Africa.

However, the World Health Organization (WHO) recently wrote, 'Given current trends, progress towards critical targets of the WHO global malaria strategy is off track.'

According to a Correspondence published by the journal Nature Medicine on January 3, 2025, innovative public health measures have reduced malaria-related mortality in Africa from 808,000 in 2000 to 580,000 in 2022.

In fact, nine African countries have already eradicated malaria, including the North African countries of Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco, and a few sub-Saharan countries, Lesotho, Mauritius, Seychelles, and Cabo Verde.

These authors from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in Ethiopia wrote, 'This progress is threatened by climate change, the emergence of drug-resistant strains, and new variants of mosquitos. Introducing and scaling malaria vaccines could enhance global malaria elimination efforts.'

Malaria vaccines became more available in Africa last year after the WHO endorsed two malaria vaccines. These vaccines are:

GSK's Mosquirix™ RTS, S/AS01 (RTS,S) recombinant vaccine has made a positive impact in a limited amount of time. During its introduction, over two-thirds of children who reportedly did not sleep under an insecticide-treated net received at least one dose of RTS,S/AS01. 

The Serum Institute of India's R21/Matrix-M™ malaria vaccine was co-produced by scientists at the University of Oxford and Novavax AB. In October 2024, TIME awarded R21/Matrix-M™ a 'Best Inventions of 2024.

Unfortunately, Africa's 1 billion population currently demands more of the R21 vaccine than production can meet. Once this vaccine shortage is resolved, international visitors to Africa may gain access, reducing the number of travel-related cases in the United States.

About 2,000 cases of malaria are diagnosed in the U.S. in a typical year, mainly in the millions of people returning travelers from Africa.

As of November 23, 2024 (Week 47), the U.S. CDC reported 1,772 malaria cases this year. From a state perspective, Florida recorded 68 cases of travel-related malaria after visiting malaria-endemic areas, such as Nigeria.

Since the U.S. FDA has not approved either malaria vaccine as of January 6, 2024, the CDC recommends preventing malaria infections by taking antimalarials before and after traveling and preventing mosquito bites while abroad.