Current scenario of Malaria Vaccine.

Malaria, one of the deadliest infectious diseases, affects millions of people worldwide including India. As an addition to chemoprophylaxis and other antimalarial interventions malaria vaccine is under extensive research since decades. The vaccine development is more difficult to predict than drug development and presents a unique challenge as there has never before been a vaccine effective against a parasite. Effective malaria vaccine could help eliminate and eradicate malaria. There are currently 63 vaccine candidates, 41 in preclinical and clinical stages of development. Vaccines are being designed to target either pre-erythrocytic stages, erythrocytic stage or the sexual stages taken up by a feeding mosquito, or multiple stages. Two vaccines in preclinical and clinical development target P falciparum. The most advanced candidate is the pre-erythrocytic vaccine RTS,S is in phase-III clinical trials. WHO has indicated that it could make a policy recommendation as early as 2015, paving the way for deployment of the world's first malaria vaccine at the country level. More efficacious second generation vaccines are on the way to development. Safety, efficacy, cost and provision of the vaccine to all communities are major concerns in malaria vaccine issue.