Oxford malaria vaccine wins first approval from Ghana in ‘significant milestone’

600,000 die every year from the disease, mostly children in Africa

Professor Adrian Hill said the malaria vaccine approval by Ghana was the culmination of 30 years of work (PA)

A new malaria vaccine developed at the University of Oxford that could protect millions of children has been approved for use for the first time, by Ghana.

The mosquito-borne disease kills more than 600,000 people each year, mostly in Africa, and scientists have been trying for years to develop vaccines.

Childhood vaccines in developing nations are typically paid for by international organisations such as Unicef, after they have been backed by the World Health Organisation (WHO), which is still assessing Oxford’s R21 Matrix-M jab.