The new R21/Matrix-M vaccine will be far more easily available than the first vaccine – but the reality of life in Africa will blunt its impact

A new vaccine against malaria – which kills 600,000 people every year, mostly children – is to be injected into babies’ arms in 18 countries where the disease is most deadly. That’s joyous news. But the unbridled enthusiasm the announcement has generated says as much about the sorry state of malaria control as the brilliance of scientific invention.

Because this is an imperfect vaccine that at best will protect 75% of those given it. That’s the top figure from the clinical trials. In the reality of village life in poverty-ridden parts of Africa, it may keep fewer than half safe. It’s still hugely important to get vaccination programmes going in the 18 countries that will now be funded to run them, because many deaths will be averted. But it’s not the end of malaria. Nowhere near.