ASHENEWS reports that Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance on Wednesday announced that it has commenced the shipment of the world’s first WHO-recommended malaria vaccine, RTS,S to Cameroon.
The alliance, in a blog post published on its website, said that 331,200 doses of the vaccine were delivered to Yaoundé, the country’s capital last night.
“The delivery is the first to a country not previously involved in the malaria vaccine pilot program and signals that scale-up of vaccination against malaria across the highest-risk areas on the African continent will begin shortly,” the post said.
It noted that an additional 1.7 million doses of the RTS,S vaccine are expected to arrive in Burkina Faso, Liberia, Niger, and Sierra Leone in the coming weeks, with additional African countries set to receive doses in the months ahead.
“This reflects the fact that several countries are now in the final stage of preparations for malaria vaccine introduction into routine immunization programs, which should see first doses administered in Q1 2024.”
The alliance said that with several countries now in the final stage of preparations for malaria vaccine introduction into routine immunization programs, the first doses will be administered in Q1 2024.
It said that more than 2 million children have been reached with the malaria vaccine in the three African countries where it was piloted.
The results, it said are a 13% drop in all-cause mortality in children age-eligible to receive the vaccine and substantial reductions in severe malaria illness and hospitalizations.
“Other key findings from the pilot program show that vaccine uptake is high, with no reduction in the use of other malaria prevention measures or uptake of other vaccines.“
