The first shipment of malaria vaccine doses arrived in Cameroon on Wednesday, signalling the beginning of the continent-wide vaccination campaign against malaria, according to the UN.
In a trial phase that began in 2019, more than two million children received vaccinations in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi, which significantly decreased hospitalisations and severe malaria cases.
With 331,200 doses of RTS,S—the first malaria vaccine that the UN’s World Health Organisation has recommended—landing in Yaounde, Cameroon on Tuesday, the programme is now beginning a wider rollout.
The WHO, UNICEF, and the Gavi vaccine alliance stated in a joint statement that the delivery “signals that scale-up of vaccination against malaria across the highest-risk areas on the African continent will begin shortly.”
“A historic step towards broader vaccination against one of the deadliest diseases for African children,” was how they defined it.
Manufacturer GSK donates the dosages.
Malachie Manaouda, the health minister of Cameroon, stated that malaria “remains a major public health threat in the country” and urged all parents to benefit from this life-saving intervention.
In the upcoming weeks, a further 1.7 million pills are scheduled to be delivered to Burkina Faso, Liberia, Niger, and Sierra Leone.
Liberia’s Health Minister, Wilhelmina Jallah, stated that malaria is the primary cause of death for newborns and children under five.
She continued, “This vaccination has the potential to save many lives and lessen the burden of this disease.”
“A breakthrough instance”
With the goal of incorporating malaria vaccines into regular immunisation programmes, several African nations are wrapping up preparations. The first doses of the vaccine are scheduled to be given between January and March of 2024.
“We are entering a new era in immunisation and malaria control… introducing vaccines is like adding a star player to the pitch,” stated UNICEF chief Catherine Russell.
In 2021, malaria killed 96% of people worldwide and caused 96% of the deaths associated with the mosquito-borne illness in Africa.
Global malaria mortality rates decreased sharply between 2000 and 2019, reaching 568,000, but then spiked 10% to 625,000 in 2020 as attempts to prevent and cure the disease were hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
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In 2021, there were 619,000 fewer deaths, with 77% of those being under five. Global malaria cases increased somewhat to 247 million during this time.
According to WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the vaccine launch is a “breakthrough moment for malaria vaccines and malaria control, and a ray of light in a dark time for so many vulnerable children in the world.”
Plasmodium falciparum, the most common and fatal malaria parasite in Africa, is the target of the RTS,S vaccine.
It is given according to a four-dose schedule that starts at about five months of age.
The joint statement concluded, “Wide adoption of malaria vaccination programmes in endemic areas has the potential to revolutionise malaria control efforts and could save tens of thousands of lives annually.”
The worldwide coordinator for malaria for the United States, David Walton, expressed his optimism for “a world in which no child dies from a mosquito bite” and remarked, “This moment has been decades in the making.”
