Simulated vaccine trial power to detect a statistically significant difference between an intervention and control group (T-test assuming unequal variances, setting <i>α</i> = 0.05).

Abstract

<p>Simulations were performed for each combination of vaccine type (erythrocytic or hepatic), efficacy (50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, or 90% reduction in first-generation parasite loads or parasite multiplication rate), variation in efficacy between individuals (standard deviation or SD), and the frequency of blood samples taken: one per two days (8am or 4pm), or one (8am), two (8am, 4pm), or three (8am, 4pm, 10pm) per day. Power calculations for a wider range of vaccine efficacy (30%–95%) can be visualized with the graphical user interface in <a href="http://www.ploscompbiol.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005255#pcbi.1005255.s009" target="_blank">S2 File</a>.</p