Brazil greenlights the first human tests of a homegrown malaria vaccine

Brazil's health regulator Anvisa has authorized first-in-human trials of Vivaxin — the world's first vaccine candidate against Plasmodium vivax, the parasite behind most malaria cases in the Americas. Two existing WHO-recommended malaria vaccines only cover a different parasite, common in Africa. Developed with fully Brazilian technology at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Vivaxin will first be tested for safety and immune response in 48 adults aged 18 to 59, monitored for a year — backed by R$12 million (about $2.4 million) in federal support for the full clinical path. Brazil logged 118,037 malaria cases in 2025; this shot is aimed squarely at ending them.