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The latest results from an ongoing clinical trial involving a potential malaria vaccine are promising so far, a new study found. Researchers reported that the vaccine was capable of protecting infants and young children from clinical malaria to a certain extent.

For this latest report, the RTS,S Clinical Trials Partnership released updates on the efficacy of the malaria vaccine. The clinical trial had involved 6,537 infants between the ages of six and 12 weeks and 8,923 children between the ages of five and 17 months from Africa. The infants and children were randomly given either three doses of the vaccine, RTS,S/AS01 or a comparator vaccine.

The researchers examined the vaccine's ability to protect the children from malaria after 18 months. They calculated an efficacy rate of 45 percent for children aged five to 17 months. For infants, the rate fell to 27 percent. The researchers reported that the vaccine's effectiveness was the highest at six months post vaccination. Overall, there were an average of 829 cases of clinical malaria per 1,000 children who were vaccinated. The incidence rate for infants was an average of 449 cases per 1,000 infants vaccinated.

The researchers also reported that serious adverse events occurred more frequently in patients that received the RTS,S/AS01 as opposed to those who received the comparator vaccine. The rates were 22.7 percent versus 18.6 percent. The ongoing study will continue to analyze the vaccine's efficacy and safety.

"Translated to the population at risk of malaria, reductions in clinical cases on this scale as a result of vaccination with RTS,S/AS01 would have a major public health impact," the authors wrote according to the press release.

The results of the trial were published under the title, "The RTS,S Clinical Trials Partnership (2014) Efficacy and Safety of the RTS,S/AS01 Malaria Vaccine during 18 Months after Vaccination: A Phase 3 Randomized, Controlled Trial in Children and Young Infants at 11 African Sites," in PLOS Medicine.