More On the Malaria Vaccine: Q&A with Sir Brian Greenwood

Plasmodium falciparum (malaria) parasites within
red blood cells (cdc.gov) 

Here is a nice Q&A piece with Sir Brian Greenwood on the recently reported (RTS,S) phase 3 malaria vaccine trial.

As previously discussed, malaria is a parasitic disease carried by mosquitoes that destroys red blood cells and is associated with high global morbidity and mortality (leading to over 600,000 deaths per year).

Greenwood provides a nice overview of malaria as well as a brief history of prior malaria vaccine efforts. He also discusses how to interpret the RTS,S trial results and their implication for future malaria vaccine work. Although the RTS,S vaccine does not appear to be as effective as initially hoped, this work does provide hope that an effective malaria vaccine is possible.