Alongside the IMVACS project, members of the Consortium are also involved in another important initiative exploring innovative strategies for malaria prevention: the CoSAV-R21 trial.
Launched in June 2025 by Epicentre/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in collaboration with the Chadian Ministry of Public Health and Prevention, the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM), and the Centre National de Recherche Scientifique et Technologique (CNRST), the trial is being conducted in the Moïssala and Dembo health districts in southern Chad. The study is sponsored by MSF’s Transformational Investment Capacity.
Aligned with the IMVACS project, the trial compares two different delivery strategies for the novel R21/Matrix-M™ malaria vaccine in areas with high seasonal transmission, with the aim of identifying the most effective approach to reduce malaria morbidity among the vulnerable population of children under 5 years of age.
The two strategies under evaluation are:
- R21/Matrix-M™ vaccination delivered through the Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (SMC) platform
- R21/Matrix-M™ vaccination delivered through an age-based strategy via routine Essential Programme on Immunisation (EPI) services
The CoSAV-R21 trial therefore shares both the target population and the primary objective of the IMVACS project.
In addition, the study includes an ancillary component, INTEGRAVAC, which aims to evaluate the acceptability, operational feasibility, costs, and cost-effectiveness of the two R21/Matrix-M™ implementation strategies.
