33 years later and still waiting...
It was 1988 when the Colombian Prof. Manuel E. Patarroyo and his team published groundbreaking research about the experimental synthetic malaria vaccine SPf66 in Nature. I remember that when I lived in Ifakara, Tanzania, eight years later an SPf66 trial was being conducted in Kilombero District. All in all SPf66 had 10 trials in Africa, Asia, and South America. Unfortunately, the results showed that this vaccine was not effective. Now, 33 years later, we are still waiting for an effective and affordable malaria vaccin. Why is it taking so long? Several COVID-19 vaccines have been developed and tested within 1 year! Damaris Matoke-Muhia from the Kenya Medical Research Institute describes very aptly in her SciDev.net article below Learning from COVID-19 to accelerate malaria vaccines development that: "This unprecedented speed is a great testament to the power of what science can achieve when researchers have resources and political will on their side." Very true. But in the meantime I would say let's join efforts and move on with the resources that we have. We should not sit and wait for 33 more years when every day counts.
Stay healthy, stay safe and enjoy MalariaWorld
Inga
Founder & Senior Editor MalariaWorld
Director Dutch Malaria Foundation