Sustained 'vigilance and money' necessary to fight malaria

With the RTS,S malaria vaccine trial results showing "moderate" success, helping to reignite "optimism about eradicating malaria entirely," "there are other big hurdles still to surmount," a New York Times editorial states. "There are hints that the protection may wane over time and results from administering a booster shot won't be known until 2014," and side effects could be a concern, the editorial writes.

"If final results of this ongoing study, which involves more than 15,000 children in all, show that the vaccine is safe and effective, the goal is to deploy it in 2015," the editorial notes, concluding, "But it will take vigilance and money to stay ahead of resistant mosquitoes and parasites" (10/23).