Good news! Somewhat belatedly, hundreds of thousands of lives are going to be saved!

Today, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that it is recommending the approval of the Mosquirix malaria vaccine developed by GlaxoSmithKline. The research on this vaccine began in 1987 and was earlier this year shown to be 50 percent effective in preventing malaria infections in the first year of Phase III clinical trials in children in three African countries.

Compared to the 95 percent efficacy of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, 50 percent may not sound like much, but a 2020 modeling study estimated that rolling out the vaccine in the areas with the higher prevalence of the illness could prevent 5.3 million cases and 24,000 deaths annually.

Good News: The World Finally Has a Malaria Vaccine

This vaccine has been in development since 1987. A year ago, I wrote about how the Isle of Man can help speed up drug development, saving lives and creating good jobs in the process. It would be hard and essentially impossible to test a preventative vaccine in the Isle of Man as I discussed in that blog post, but the solution is to expand this proposal to the rest of the world!

Michael Josem is a long-term consumer advocate, most prominently as a global leader in combating fraud in the online gambling industry. He was in part the inspiration for the 20th Century Fox Movie, Runner Runner, starring Ben Affleck and Justin Timberlake.

Josem has over a decade of experience as a senior business leader working across various high-tech and online industries, and takes action to build a better community. His primary volunteer roles include service for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and Graih, the homelessness charity.