Malaria Vaccine

This project is the third part of a 5-year research program entitled "Malaria Infection Studies in Thailand (MIST)" and known as MIST3. MIST3's primary objectives are to assess the safety of the PvRII/Matrix-M vaccine candidate in healthy adult Thai volunteers and to establish whether the PvRII/Matrix-M vaccine can demonstrate a reduced parasite multiplication rate in vaccinated volunteers compared to a controlled group (placebo vaccine) in a blood-stage controlled human malaria infection model. This study will recruit up to 36 eligible healthy volunteers aged 20-55 in Thailand at the Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University. Eighteen volunteers will receive three doses of the PvRII/Matrix-M candidate vaccine, and 18 volunteers will receive three doses of the placebo vaccine. Safety and immunogenicity will be evaluated after each dose as per protocol. Approximately four weeks after receiving the third vaccination, 24 volunteers will undergo blood-stage CHMI with Plasmodium vivax. The volunteers will be monitored closely as in-patients in the Hospital for Tropical Diseases and treated according to the Research Proposal Submission Form. This study is funded by the UK Wellcome Trust. The grant reference number are Oxford/MORU: 212336/Z/18/Z and 212336/Z/18/A, and Mahidol University: 212336/A/18/Z and 212336/A/18/A

The goal of this observational study is to learn about the impact of malaria vaccination on the risk of invasive non-typhoidal Salmonella disease in children below the age of 5. Eligible participants residing in the Kisantu Health Zone (DRC) and presenting fever are enrolled in healthcare facilities and tested for malaria and iNTS. Using a case-control (test-negative) design, the researchers will look at the malaria vaccination status of participants with and without iNTS infection to determine if the malaria vaccine protects against iNTS.

This is a multi-site, multi-disciplinary, Phase-4 two-arm cluster-randomised non-inferiority trial in Burkina Faso and Mali to evaluate the effectiveness and real-life impact of a novel integrated delivery strategy of the R21 malaria vaccine alongside SMC among children in areas with highly seasonal malaria transmission. In this study, a cluster is defined as the catchment area of a health centre. Clusters will be randomised to receive either year-round age-based routine EPI vaccination for children aged 5-36 months ("Routine EPI Vaccination") in Burkina Faso or an annual campaign of the 3-dose primary series in children aged 5-36 months prior to the malaria season and SMC delivery (''Routine Pre-SMC vaccination'') in Mali versus an annual campaign of the 3-dose primary series aligned with SMC distribution in children aged 3-59 months ("Integrated SMC Vaccination") in each country. Effectiveness will be assessed in terms of clinical malaria, vaccine coverage, acceptability, feasibility, and cost-effectiveness. Malaria incidence will be determined using routine surveillance activities for clinical malaria detection and reporting in each country. Cross-sectional surveys will be conducted to determine the prevalence of parasitaemia in the communities. In addition, the acceptability, feasibility, coverage and cost-effectiveness of the different delivery systems of R21/Matrix-M will be assessed.