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Twelve African countries will receive 18 million doses of malaria vaccines for children under five years old, to be distributed over the next two years, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported along with other agencies.
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WHO, the GAVI Global Vaccine Alliance, and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said in a joint statement that the deployment of 18 million doses of malaria vaccine, or RTS, S/AS01, for the period 2023–2025 aims to protect children from serious illness and death.
According to the agencies, Kenya, Ghana, and Malawi have since 2019 administered the vaccine to more than 1.7 million children in pilot programs.
This time, nine other countries—Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Niger, Sierra Leone, and Uganda—will receive the vaccine and introduce it for the first time in their routine immunization programs.
The first doses are expected to arrive in the designated countries during the last quarter of this year, where they will begin distribution in early 2024.
18 million doses of first-ever malaria vaccine allocated to 12 African countries for 2023–2025: Gavi, WHO and UNICEF (July 5, 2023)
In response to high demand for the first-ever malaria vaccine, 12 countries in Africa will be allocated a total of 18 million doses of RTS,S/AS01… pic.twitter.com/MD9skNzaA7
— QuestionIt (@Amy31129057)
July 6, 2023
The malaria vaccine, developed by British multinational pharmaceutical company GSK, has so far demonstrated safety and efficacy, resulting in a substantial reduction in severe malaria and deaths in children under five years old.
“This vaccine has the potential to have a major impact in the fight against malaria, and when widely deployed alongside other interventions, it can prevent tens of thousands of future deaths each year,” said Thabani Maphosa, Gavi’s managing director of country program implementation.
Malaria kills nearly half a million children under the age of five annually in the sub-Saharan Africa region, where an estimated 95% of global malaria cases and 96% of deaths were reported in 2021, according to the WHO.
The agencies’ statement noted that a total of 28 African countries have expressed interest in administering the malaria vaccine.
Kate O’Brien, WHO’s Director of Immunization, said that “the high demand for the vaccine and the wide reach of childhood immunization will increase equity in access to malaria prevention and save many young lives.”
