LILONGWE, MALAWI — Malawi will begin a large-scale pilot of vaccinating children with the RTS,S vaccine to partially protect them from malaria, CNN reports.<br /><br />RTS,S is the first and only vaccine in the world that has been found to significantly reduce malaria in children, according to the World Health Organization.<br /><br />This new vaccine would teach the immune system to attack malaria parasites. These parasites are typically spread by mosquito bites.<br /><br />The vaccine would only be administered to children under the age of 2. According to the WHO, children under the age of five are the most vulnerable to malaria.<br /><br />The African nations of Ghana and Kenya will also start administering the vaccine in their countries in the next few weeks.<br /><br />An estimated 435,000 deaths worldwide were caused by malaria. Children accounted for 61 percent or 266,000 of malaria deaths worldwide in 2017, according to a report by the World Health Organization.
