(CMR) Children across Africa are to be vaccinated against malaria after the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended a vaccine for use across sub-Saharan Africa and regions with moderate to high transmission levels for the first time.
This is expected to save thousands of lives as the mosquito-borne infection kills more than 400,000 people a year, most of whom are babies and infants.
WHO made the recommendation following a successful pilot program in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi.
The vaccine was developed by British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline and first showed effectiveness six years ago. It is to be given in four doses in children from five months of age.
“This is a historic moment. The long-awaited malaria vaccine for children is a breakthrough for science, child health, and malaria control,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the WHO.
“Using this vaccine on top of existing tools to prevent malaria could save tens of thousands of young lives each year.”
There is now fear that the number of malaria infections and deaths may have risen in sub-Saharan Africa in the last 18 months as a result of disruption to prevention and treatment efforts caused by COVID-19. However, there is optimism that the vaccine could start to turn things around.
Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa, said the recommendation “offers a glimmer of hope for the continent which shoulders the heaviest burden of the disease and we expect many more African children to be protected from malaria and grow into healthy adults”.
To date, the WHO’s pilot program has administered more than 2.3 million doses of the vaccine, known as Mosquirix, among 800,000 children.
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