Blog Entry, Editorials Respond to Studies on Success of RTS,S Malaria Vaccine Trials

Several newspapers recently published a blog entry and editorials responding to two studies published in the Dec. 11 issue of New England Journal of Medicine that found the malaria vaccine candidate RTS,S reduced malaria incidence among children by more than 50% in two Phase II field trials and can be administered safely with other routine childhood immunizations. Summaries appear below.

• Los Angeles Times' "Booster Shots": The RTS,S vaccine might be the "closest to possible licensure and use, but it's not the only malaria vaccine candidate," Mary Engel writes in the Times' "Booster Shots" blog. Engel writes that Carlos Campbell, director of CDC's malaria program, has said more than one vaccine may be necessary to control malaria. However, "[w]hat is not in dispute is that a malaria vaccine is needed," despite the "impressive success" of insecticide-treated nets in recent years, Engel writes. According to Engel, Campbell has warned that only one class of insecticide still provides effective coverage for ITNs, but when mosquitoes develop resistance -- "and they inevitably will" -- gains in malaria control efforts "could disappear." Engel concludes that the "horror of malaria is still very much at the front in sub-Saharan Africa" (Engel, "Booster Shots," Los Angeles Times, 12/9).
  

• Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Leaders at PATH's Malaria Vaccine Initiative, "expressed jubilation" at the success of RTS,S, which is a "promising version of an older, experimental vaccine" that could "make the lives of children in Africa much more secure," a Post-Intelligencer editorial says. The editorial concludes that "for young Africans and the world in which they will live, progress on a malaria vaccine is hopeful news indeed" (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 12/9).
  

• This Day: Although people might be "encouraged" by the "promising" success of the RTS,S trials, the "war against malaria has yet to be fought with appropriate seriousness," a This Day editorial says, adding that vaccines, ITNs and artemisinin-based combination therapies "should only complement the people's own efforts in the fight against malaria." The editorial calls on municipal authorities, health inspectors and malaria control program officers to reinstate measures aimed at improving public health, adding, "We must abide by the age-old adage that prevention is always better than cure." The editorial concludes that "much more emphasis" is necessary for "plugging the key sources of the disease, rather than waiting for it to strike" before taking action (This Day, 12/11).