and 'It's what we wanted hoped for for so long

Team's joy as malaria vaccine that could save 600,000 lives a year wins approval

- NICOLA METHVEN

A LEADING scientist weeps with joy after approval is granted for her team's malaria vaccine, a jab that could save 600,000 lives a year.

A BBC film crew followed the scientists for years during their painstaking efforts to eradicate malaria in the same way as polio, measles and smallpox.

And the cameras were rolling as they got news that the Phase 3 trial had been successful - 11 years after work on the R21 vaccine first started and seven years after the trials began.

Oxford University immunologist Professor Katie Ewer is overcome as she learns that not only has the vaccine created no adverse side effects in the 5,000 children across Africa who took part in the trial, but it is also 72% effective at preventing malaria.