The long-running battle against malaria just took a huge step in the right direction. An experimental vaccination has proved about 50 percent effective among thousands of young children across Africa, researchers said Tuesday. Though it is not as successful as vaccines against other formerly pervasive viruses such as the measles, tetanus, and polio, this is the first-ever vaccine for malaria and a major step toward preventing the hundreds of thousands of deaths malaria causes each year, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa.
