Malaria vaccine: WHO position paper – May 2024

This position paper supersedes the 2022 WHO position paper on malaria vaccines. It includes the updated WHO recommendations on the use of the RTS,S/AS01 and R21/Matrix-M vaccines for the reduction of malaria morbidity and mortality in children living in endemic areas, prioritizing areas of moderate and high malaria transmission.

It also incorporates findings from the evaluation of the WHO-coordinated Malaria Vaccine Implementation Programme (MVIP), through which the RTS,S/AS01 vaccine was introduced in routine immunization programmes through large pilot programmes from 2019 through to 2023 in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi. Recommendations on the use of malaria vaccines were discussed by SAGE and MPAG during a joint session in September 2023 and were subsequently endorsed by WHO.