9 new African countries receive millions of malaria vaccines

Global vaccine alliance GAVI said Wednesday that 12 countries in Africa would receive 18 million doses of malaria vaccine over the next two years, expanding access to the injections to nine new countries in the region.

Malaria remains one of the continent’s deadliest diseases, killing nearly half a million children under five each year. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), by 2021, Africa was responsible for about 95 percent of global malaria cases and 96 percent of deaths.

“At least 28 African countries have expressed interest in receiving the RTS,S [malaria] vaccine,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a press briefing. He noted that a second malaria vaccine is being assessed for pre-qualification and, if successful, could provide additional supply in the short term.

Ghana, Kenya and Malawi have received the RTS,S vaccine since 2019 as part of a pilot program funded by GAVI and more than 1.7 million children in the countries have received it, GAVI, UNICEF and WHO said in a joint statement. .

The nine new countries that will receive the vaccine, developed by British drugmaker GSK, are Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Niger, Sierra Leone and Uganda.

The first doses of the RTS,S vaccine are expected to reach 12 African countries in the last quarter of 2023, allowing them to start rolling out vaccines early next year.