Potential new malaria vaccine shows promise in Burkina Faso trial

A doctor tests a child for malaria at the Ithani-Asheri Hospital in Arusha, Tanzania, file. [Reuters]

A potential new malaria vaccine has proved highly effective in a trial in babies in Africa, pointing to it one day possibly helping reduce the death toll from the mosquito-borne disease that kills up to half a million young children a year.

The candidate vaccine, developed by scientists at Britain’s University of Oxford and called R21/Matrix-M, showed up to 77% efficacy in the year-long trial of 450 children in Burkina Faso, researchers leading the trial said in a statement.