Some 18 million doses of the first RTS,S malaria vaccine will be sent to twelve African countries until 2025, the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF and the Alliance du Monde announced on Wednesday June 5. vaccine (Gavi). “Malaria remains one of the deadliest diseases in Africa, where it kills nearly half a million children under the age of 5 every year,” said WHO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, at a press conference. In 2021, 96% of global malaria deaths occurred in Africa.
The RTS,S vaccine – developed by British pharmaceutical group GSK – has already been administered to more than 1.7 million children in three African countries – Ghana, Kenya and Malawi – as part of a pilot programme. “It has been shown to be safe and effective, leading to a substantial reduction in severe forms of malaria and a drop in child deaths,” Dr Tedros said. Nearly thirty African countries have indicated that they want to receive doses.
In addition to the three test countries, which will continue to receive doses, nine other countries will receive the doses, WHO, Unicef ??and Gavi said in a statement. These are Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Niger, Sierra Leone and Uganda.
The first vaccines are expected to arrive in the last quarter of 2023, for deployment in early 2024. Dr Tedros pointed out that a second malaria vaccine, R21/Matrix-M developed by the University of Oxford and produced by the Serum Institute in India (SII), “is under review for prequalification” by WHO, a procedure to ensure that health products for supply to low-income countries are safe and effective.
“It is very important to remember that almost every minute a child dies from malaria, and the introduction of the malaria vaccine is an important step forward” in the fight against the disease, said the director of the department of immunization and vaccines at the ‘WHO, Kate O’Brien, at a press conference. This first vaccine “is a step in the right direction, and it foreshadows the millions of doses that will be distributed in the future”, she assured.
WHO, UNICEF and Gavi estimate that annual global demand for malaria vaccines is expected to be 40-60 million doses by 2026, rising to 80-100 million doses each year by 2030. Malaria – a disease transmitted to humans through the bites of certain types of mosquitoes – caused the death of 619,000 people worldwide in 2021, according to the latest WHO figures.
