A malaria vaccine with "world-changing" potential has been developed by scientists at the University of Oxford, BBC reported.
The team expect it to be rolled out next year after trials showed up to 80% protection against the deadly disease.
Crucially, say the scientists, their vaccine is cheap and they already have a deal to manufacture more than 100 million doses a year.
The charity Malaria No More said recent progress meant children dying from malaria could end "in our lifetimes".
It has taken more than a century to develop effective vaccines as the malaria parasite, which is spread by mosquitoes, is spectacularly complex and elusive. It is a constantly moving target, shifting forms inside the body, which make it hard to immunise against.
Last year, the World Health Organization gave the historic go-ahead for the first vaccine - developed by pharmaceutical giant GSK - to be used in Africa.
Trial results from 409 children in Nanoro, Burkina Faso, have been published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases. It shows three initial doses followed by a booster a year later gives up to 80% protection.
"We think these data are the best data yet in the field with any malaria vaccine," said Prof Adrian Hill, director of the Jenner Institute at the university.
The team will start the process of getting their vaccine approved in the next few weeks, but a final decision will hinge on the results of a larger trial of 4,800 children due before the end of the year, according to BBC.
The world's largest vaccine manufacturer - the Serum Institute of India - is already lined up to make more than 100 million doses a year.
Prof Hill said the vaccine - called R21 - could be made for "a few dollars" and "we really could be looking at a very substantial reduction in that horrendous burden of malaria".
Malaria has been one of the biggest scourges on humanity for millennia and mostly kills babies and infants. The disease still kills more than 400,000 people a year even after dramatic progress with bed nets, insecticides and drugs.
This malaria vaccine is the 14th that Prof Katie Ewer has worked on at Oxford as "this is not like Covid where we have seven vaccines straight away that will work... it's much, much harder".
She told the BBC it was "incredibly gratifying" to get this far and "the potential achievement that this vaccine could have if it's rolled out could be really world-changing".
