PLoS Medicine
http://www.plosmedicine.org/
(Accessed 16 April 2016)

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Essay
The Future of the RTS,S/AS01 Malaria Vaccine: An Alternative Development Plan
Roly Gosling, Lorenz von Seidlein
| published 12 Apr 2016 | PLOS Medicine
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001994
Summary Points
:: RTS,S/AS01 is the falciparum malaria vaccine candidate that is most advanced in development, globally.
:: In a large clinical trial in sub-Saharan African children, the protection conferred by RTS,S/AS01 was found to rapidly decline, particularly in infants.
:: Although RTS,S/AS01 was approved by the European Medicines Agency for active immunization of children aged 6 weeks to 17 months against malaria, the WHO did not recommend the inclusion of RTS,S/AS01 in the Expanded Programme of Immunisations (EPI).
:: Instead of aiming for inclusion of the vaccine in EPI, we propose that the future development of RTS,S/AS01 could take advantage of its high transient protective efficacy.
:: Adding the vaccine to intensive malaria elimination strategies in low-endemicity areas could be the critical factor in interrupting transmission.