Last year, there wasn’t a deployed malaria vaccine in Africa. This year, there are two. This is probably the most revolutionary development in our lifetimes, and yet, for many of us, it’s a story we mostly missed. And it’s an important story because every year, over 600,000 people die of malaria, and of these deaths, 95% are in Africa, mostly among children under five.
At our 2024 festival, we heard from two of the leading scientists who worked on the new R21 malaria vaccine. Developed by Dr. Adrian Hill’s team at the University of Oxford and clinically tested by Dr. Ally Olotu’s team at the Ifakara Health Institute in Tanzania, it is expected to save hundreds of thousands of lives this decade and lead to serious efforts toward eliminating and eradicating malaria in the next.
We share a short edit featuring extracts from their presentation and interviews, offering a glimpse into their individual journeys in developing the vaccine. Footage Credit: The University of Oxford
