>> the u.s. senate has passed a procedural vote paving the way for another vote on raising the debt limit by $480 million. this will stave off the attentional debt default. in the last half hour, the votes needed to end it was secured without raising the borrowing cap, they would not be able to pay it within two weeks. >> they want a long-term solution to the debt limit, to

make sure financial markets remain stable. and our economic recovery stays on track. america's full faith in credit must never be used as a political bargaining chip. i hope my harlequin colleagues relet from trying to make it one when we revisit this issue soon. now that they have relented, senate democrats will focus on passing filled back better agenda. we can finally build up ladders of opportunity for people to climb up to the middle class. >> rescuers have search for survivors swear an earthquake has killed at least 20 people. the strong but shallow tremor has left hundreds of people injured. the worst hit region. pfizer says it submitted a request to the main u.s. drug regulator for emergency approval of its vaccine for children aged 5-11. the drive to vaccinate children

has been spurred by a rise of infections of the delta variant and the reopening of schools. the former u.s. special envoy for haiti says security in port-au-prince is deteriorating and massacres and kidnappings are part of everyday life. he said that america's policy of deporting thousands of haitians would make things worse. those are the headlines. the news continues here on al jazeera after inside story. bye for now. ♪ >> while the world is focused on vaccines against covid, a break there has been made in fighting another disease.

the who approved a malaria jab. can it wipe out one of the biggest killers of children in africa? will it be affordable for those who need it the most? this is inside story. ♪ >> it kills more than 400 thousand -- 40,000 people out of an estimated 229 million cases and now, there is a vaccine. we are not talking about covid. it is in fact a malaria vaccine. the world health organization is dramatic ending it into going into widespread use in africa. there is a lot of optimism about this but as we discussed, there is a lot of work left to do. funding and the political will to make that happen.

we will introduce you to our panel in a moment. this report. reporter: it is a game changer for child health. they can save the lives of hundreds of thousands of children each year in sub-saharan africa. >> malaria has been with us for a millennia. the dream of a malaria vaccine has been a long-held but unobtainable dream. today, the malaria vaccine more than 30 years in the making change the course of public health history. >> it has been given to infants in ghana and malawi since 2019 is a pallet program. it was found to be 30% effective at preventing severe cases of the disease which is transmitted through mosquitoes. that rose to 70% when combined

with other treatments. >> it is still quite some time away but the combination of treatments and this vaccine and another may be others in the future will bring malaria born disease down in africa. reporter: it kills more than 400,000 people each year and mainly children under five and pregnant women. it is in welcomed by researchers as a breakthrough. between funding and a mass rollout in the wake of covid-19 and other priorities. >> it is been a disease for sub-saharan africa children and given the difficulties that our countries are facing, we hope

the international community is going to stand up and make this vaccine available to children who need it. >> who recommends giving the joke -- vaccine in's three stages including a booster shot. the nexus for the vaccine global alliance to see if it is a worthwhile investment. if it is approved, it will bought for countries that requested. a process that could take at least one year. anchor: we have three doctors who are our guest tonight. in johannesburg, they are a board member at the vaccine alliance that you heard about in

that report. in kenya, an epidemiologist and research scientist at the center there. welcome to you all. we are in very good hands today. dr., let me start with you. 13 nine percent of malaria cases prevented by this vaccine. it goes up to 70% when combined with the anti-malaria drugs. are you good with that? 39%? i think who says it needs and efficacy rate of 50% at least for approval. are these numbers all right? >> we believe that every life saved from malaria is worth the investment. one is combined with other treatments it went up to 70%. that is acceptable. we realize that malaria control depends on an armament.

a toolkit that is full of imperfect tools. this is what we are advancing as technology delivers us more tools, we will keep improving. welcome the approval to a stable vaccine deliver africa. a life saved is a life worth saving. anchor: let me get your initial thoughts as well on those numbers. again, just explaining to our viewers. the combination of the vaccine and the drugs, do those numbers stack up to you? >> they certainly do. one of the reasons is that we need more tools to tackle malaria. you heard the figures. in the african region, we estimate that we are losing about 260,000 children every year from this. more than that, are repeated attacks that occur in childhood.

and affecting childhood development as well. is not just the deaths that we need to reduce. it is severe disease, hospitalization and the chronic effect as well. just bear in mind that if we combine a 70% reduction in disease is huge. it is a massive step forward. we kind plateaued with the tools that we got in terms of being able to now reduce malarial case and numbers. we needed more tools and this is one of them. anchor: let's stay on that idea of plateauing with the doctor in nairobi. i would also note that there have been six years of tests and trials? that have been going on in this vaccine and actually years before that as well as part of the development. is that normal to be taking that long? i wonder if my covid rain thinks that things should happen faster because of what we have talked about in the last 18 months.

>> thank you. most people are not aware that the search for this vaccine has been raging on for the last 30 years. the six years you are alluding to is something that vaccine development has been accustomed to. right now, we still don't have an hiv vaccine and there are attempts to be made. it's nothing expected or unheard of but we are happy that we have got something that we can consider to be relatively effective when combined with other existing interventions. anchor: what is proved elusive in this? has there been something that has been constantly proving to be a hurdle? >> the malaria causing organism is the problem.

it is a tricky organism. it is a protozoan that has different stages that can hide in different parts of the body. the liver, the blood. it has a vector face. in one area, this protozoa is actually a very elusive organism. and we talk about the very opening that if you target in antigen, and a few years time, that will not be effective or will not work. the problem has been around how do we target the into gin that can be used to decrease unity and fight a disease when you are exposed to infection. let me come back to you, dr. -- anchor: tell me about the

trials, the number of people involved. there is even controversy involved. the british medical journal said the who was only using implied consent. it was not getting explicit consent from parents for these trials. how has it all gone? >> the first thing to note was the piloting of the vaccines in ghana, kenya and malawi was done through the national demonization system. the piloting was not a trial per se. trials have been conducted and vaccine proved effort -- anchor: what is the difference between a pilot and a trial then? >> it was to look at the feasibility of using existing weapons to deliver this vaccine and look at the negative parts of that system. the vax -- result was that they

can be delivered and it does not negatively impact the system, neither did it disrupt any existing delivery of vaccines. having proven this, they did a meeting years ago and the policy advisory group advised the widescale use of this vaccine. that is what is exciting we can deliver through the system. not a campaign per se but maintain this. we find that the vaccine is self, is a brand on its own. people know malaria and its effect in the developing of children. therefore, we found that people on their own go for the vaccine without much investment in massive communication that is outside the routine system. we are excited that it becomes available, people will adopt it

and deliver it to those children and save the children, not just from death, but from the chronic impact of malaria on the development of the children, on stunting performance in school. anchor: you talk about again picked up and getting to the people. that's why i am glad we got helen with us was on the board of the vaccine alliance. from what i have been reading, it all comes to them which has to decide and i think it is december, there specter to decide whether this is viable, picked up and move forward. is there any question that it won't be? >> i don't want to preempt a discussion but what i can share with you is the board has -- this is not the first time they would have discussed the malaria vaccine. they have been following the development of the vaccine very closely. it is an alliance. the aim of the group is to support the least resource

countries in purchasing vaccines and strengthening their health systems to deliver vaccines and helping countries have all the bells and whistles required deliver vaccines. they have had a huge impact and save millions and millions of lives as an alliance to that kind of support through the delivery of these and vaccines. this kind of thing which is looking at a disease that has really got stuck but affecting so many children and some of the poorest countries of the world. it is the kind of thing that they would want to prioritize but in doing that, we will be talking with the donors to support us to say how much money have we got, is there a window, can we invest? they depend on who's recommendation. yesterday's announcement is a

very important milestone in the sort of process of their decision-making. as i say, something like this would fall into a portfolio because they are into save lives in the poorest countries. at the risk -- anchor: it will come down to money won't it? they said that as we have seen from the covid vaccine where there is political will, there is funding available to ensure their skill to the label dust level they are needed. that is what takes right? political will and someone saying this is what it takes to do this? >> one thing i will save is that there are a number of health ministers from several of the sub-saharan african countries. ghana, africa -- if you where this is a problem. -- ghana, ethiopia. they stressed the importance of

tackling malaria. i think it is very likely you will get huge political support from the bishop of countries with a high amount of malaria disease. the support we also need is the philanthropic organizations, bilateral donors, richer countries to come in with the money and we recognize that we are asking people to come in with funds for covid vaccines at the same time. we recognize there will be -- we will have to push very hard to get these funds. certainly, the donors i've spoken to and heard speaking would be in principle, fairy supportive of this. it is how much money is in the bank, you are quite right. anchor: i know that the covid vaccine is a different beast in a different situation. what i would point out is the rollout of that vaccine has been

incredibly poor. does that concern you when you think about wanting to roll out a malaria vaccine to those who need it the most? lessons needed to be learned? >> there are definitely serious concerns around commitment from governments that put money on the table to secure vaccines. that is becoming a bigger problem because of the problem that we have, the sources being used for covid's and other priorities. the timing is not really the best. if this happened in 2019, the expectations would be different but having said that, i think i agree. the motivation to progress malaria as a public health issue is very well-received around the world. if you are doing anything on children, unicef, some other

organization that is addressing the health of children, you definitely need to be part of this. there is no way people will of the other right when we have something that promises to address one of the biggest heroes of children on the continent. i'm quite optimistic. anchor: can i get your thoughts on the same issue? the idea of making sure that once the money is there, actually making sure it gets to the people. that is a sharp and of this, if this is the most important thing that is getting it into the arms of people when the time comes and the covid situation certainly in africa has shown us that that can be problematic. >> certainly. that is part of the things i look at in these countries. we find that the malaria vaccine is being delivered at the same

level as the dvt vaccine or is different in other countries. people value the malaria vaccine. they will value anything that will prevent malaria. people at a local level know about it so we are optimistic that with vaccines available then countries adopting to deliver vaccines that there would not be more challenges other than what we are distributing. we are excited we are optimistic that we get out there and that lives will be saved. anchor: folks, let us look at measures as a whole pair vaccines are one part of it. there will be anti-malaria drugs a part of it as well. i've done a lot of reading today about mosquito nets and how important they are. dr., a quick thought from you about -- could you splint to our viewers what a tool these are in

the fight against malaria? >> as the name implies, mosquito nets are better than insecticides. when delivered and used appropriately, they knock out the mosquito. they prevent malaria. these are very effective tools. we do not have a perfect tool. during trials, it barely got to under 50% in some cases. what we are saying is that we are not replacing the meds, we are not replacing interventions with the vaccine. we are adding an additional tool let us use all of them where applicable and let us keep moving forward, controlling and managing malaria. anchor: my missing anything there? are there any more arrows in the quiver we want to fight malaria? >> what are the things this

raises again is we are talking about prevention. it is a first toll for any infectious disease. i think the other thing we should think about is treatment. in many of these endemic areas where they have got seasonal malaria, being able to get children into facilities where they are able to rapidly diagnose and treat is also extremely important. the same is true for covid. as we think of the continuum of how to tackle a problem. one issue is to strengthen health services, train them continuously so they are able to diagnose malaria. give them the tools to be able to quickly treat malaria cases. even with all these tools together, this is not the hundred percent prevention tool. we will continue to see malaria in these high burdened districts. anchor: do you agree that there

needs to be more work to be on the treatment side of things to make sure everyone is up to speed? >> 100%, i agree. the existing interventions need to be sustained and probably even ramped up to sort of have a combination that will knock out more malaria transmission events. eight i can add that the issue around havey are and the interventions that we just talked about. if we use the bed net, your behavior has a lot to do how huffy that bed net will be. if you will take malaria tablets, it depends on how compliant that person will be to take that medicine. that is a challenge for those interventions that have been in use before. we have an additional the -- intervention like a vaccine, there's no way you can get it out and the only hope and prayer

is that it elicits the effect that we desire. that is the reason why we are seeing all of this. it will be very can't -- complement three and additionally, supportive of the additional interventions. from their pilots, one of the things that have come out is at least from that environment, we have not seen a lot of impact on existing interventions. they would have been in there interventions but i think that will be the wrong thing to do. make sure it is a priority issue and a bit of meds. they have a hidden cost. how do we trust they will reach

the villages in the district? anchor: what about going after mosquitoes themselves? that nets protect against them but is there any way and i could ask you of targeting the mosquitoes in the first place if that is where malaria comes from? >> since we documented this, we asked on what we can do different. one that we can do different is have a better approach it malaria. involve the nontraditional methods. the road sector, the construction center -- sector, environmental sector, boost core

businesses. let us sit down with them on what they can do. do a mill you're right do a million rate -- on malaria transition. we could, but there is an extent . the basis to bring in stakeholders together. we can work together so it is a project that does not lead to increasing bidding size. -- breathing -- breeding size. we gotta prevent this from my area transmission. we do not have ministries who have a role to play in a response to malaria. we know if you countries are looking at that. that is the direction to go.

exactly what we do with the available tools. anchor: doctors, thank you so much for your time today. we learned so much from this discussion. thank you. and, as ever, thank you for watching. we are online on al jazeera.com or you can listen your discussions in podcasts. wendy a discussion on our facebook as well. on twitter, we are@ajstory. on behalf of the team, we will see you soon. ♪

pñpñpñ

man: i've already had a rewarding career representing artists writing the first review of basquiat, being the first person to buy his work, being jeff koons' dealer during the nineties. i've already done very rewarding things like this. i'm a stealth bomber. i can walk the walk and talk the talk of money people but i'm using the structure to put out some very progressive, radical ideas. first the challenge was economic survival. now it's how do i survive the