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Giving women in Africa a malaria vaccine before they get pregnant could protect them against infection for almost two years without the need for a booster, according to scientists.
The findings are a “tremendous advance” in protecting women against the potentially deadly disease, researchers said.
They estimate severe malaria infection – or plasmodium falciparum – during pregnancy leads to 50,000 deaths and 200,000 stillbirths in Africa every year.
For the study, the team recruited 300 women in Mali who were planning to get pregnant in the coming year.
Of the group, 100 were given a low dose of the vaccine, while 100 were given a high dose and 100 were given a placebo.
After being jabbed, the women stopped using birth control and were followed up over two malaria seasons spanning almost two years.
Of the women who fell pregnant, their babies were also followed up to their first birthday.
In the high dose group, efficiency of the vaccine against malaria infection was 86% during the first year in women who went on to get pregnant.
The jab’s efficiency in the low dose group during pregnancy was 57% over the two seasons.
Researchers also found efficiency in the low dose group to be as high, or higher, in the second year as the first year at 61% without boosting.
Alassane Dicko, who leads the team at the Malaria Research and Training Centre (MRTC) in Bamako, Mali, said: “This is a tremendous advance for protecting women against malaria before and during pregnancy.”
Vaccinated patients also fell pregnant sooner, researchers found.
Mr Dicko added: “We were excited to see significant vaccine efficacy against Pf infection not only in the first year but through a second intense malaria transmission when administered pre-conception.
“We were also surprised to find an additional positive outcome, that pregnancies developed sooner in vaccinated participants.”
The African region reported 233 million cases of malaria and 580,000 deaths in 2022, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO)This equates to 94% of cases and 95% of deaths globally.
Babies, children under the age of five, pregnant women and people with HIV or Aids are all at higher risk of severe infection.
The first malaria vaccine – RTS,S – was recommended by WHO to prevent malaria in children in October 2021.
It has reached almost two million youngsters in Kenya, Ghana and Malawi through WHO’s Malaria Vaccine Implementation Programme.
In October last year, WHO recommended the programmatic use of malaria jabs for children living in endemic areas, which includes the RTS,S/AS01 and R21/Matrix-M vaccines.
Stephen L Hoffman, founder and chief executive of Sanaria, added: “The results of this study in women of child-bearing potential demonstrate clearly its potential to save the lives of women and their unborn babies in Africa.”
Professor Rose Leke, of the University of Cameroon, added: “While pregnant women are typically excluded from many clinical studies, given the scale of the problem and the profound effects of malaria on women of child-bearing potential, there is an ethical imperative to design and test interventions for this vulnerable group.
“I applaud this research team for successfully pioneering the safe testing of PfSPZ Vaccine in young women and achieving such promising results on preventing malaria in pregnancy.”
