Listen to Story A study has found that antibodies passed down from mothers to their babies during pregnancy could reduce the effectiveness of malaria vaccines in infants under five months old. Antibodies are proteins produced by the immune system to help fight off infections . They recognise and bind to harmful invaders like viruses and bacteria, marking them for destruction.
Antibodies are specific to each pathogen, meaning they target and neutralise specific germs the body has previously encountered. The study led a team of researchers from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) explains why the malaria vaccine works less effectively in very young children. The research, conducted with seven African centres, was published in Lancet Infectious Diseases .
It suggests that children younger than the current World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended age for malaria vaccination could still benefit from the RTS,S and R21 vaccines, especially in areas with low malaria transmission. In these areas, mothers tend to have fewer malaria antibodies, potentially improving the vaccine's effectiveness. Malaria vaccines RTS,S/AS01E and R21/Matrix-M were developed to protect children in Africa from Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite responsible for malaria.
Both vaccines are currently given to children starting at five months of age. "We know that the RTS,S vaccine is less effective in infants under five months, but the exact reason for this is still being debated," said Carl.