WHO approves first malaria vaccine to protect children in Africa

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday the only approved vaccine against malaria should be widely used on African children, potentially a major advance against a disease that kills hundreds of thousands of people annually.

The recommendation is for RTS,S, or Mosquirix, a vaccine developed by British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline. It was jointly announced in Geneva by the WHO's top advisory bodies for malaria and immunization, the Malaria Policy Advisory Group and the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunisation.