A malaria vaccine has taken much longer to come to fruition because there are thousands of genes in malaria compared to around dozen in coronavirus, and a very high immune response is needed to fight off the disease. “That’s a real technical challenge”.
The trials of this malaria vaccine started in 2019, long before coronavirus appeared – and the Oxford team developed its Covid vaccine (with AstraZeneca) on the strength of its research into malaria, Prof Hill said.
The vaccine showed 77% efficacy in the higher-dose group and 71% in the lower-dose group.