Biggest science news of 2021: RTS,S becomes world’s first approved malaria vaccine

October saw the RTS,S malaria vaccine given the go-ahead for use outside trials for the first time – a momentous decision, decades in the making

By Clare Wilson

Decades in the making, October saw a malaria vaccine given the go-ahead for use outside trials for the first time, described as a “historic moment” by World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Below, Jeywellan Ochieng receives the vaccine in Kenya on 7 October, the day the announcement was made.

This RTS,S vaccine reduces cases of severe malaria by only 30 per cent, but because the disease causes more than 400,000 deaths a year, it should save many lives.

Several other malaria vaccines are in the works, and some may be more than 70 per cent effective.