Sierra Leone, Liberia, Niger and other African countries to receive 18 million doses of first-ever malaria vaccine

Over the next two years, 18 million doses of the first-ever malaria vaccine will be distributed to Sierra Leone, Liberia, Niger, and nine other African nations. The vaccine, known as RTS,S/AS01, has been successfully tested in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi, and it has proven to be safe and effective. This significant rollout marks a crucial advancement in the fight against malaria, a leading cause of death on the continent.

The distribution of the RTS,S/AS01 vaccine is facilitated by the Malaria Vaccine Implementation Programme (MVIP), coordinated by the World Health Organization (WHO) and funded by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and Unitaid.

Since 2019, the vaccine has been administered to over 1.7 million children in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi, resulting in a significant reduction in severe malaria cases and child deaths. Building on this success, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Niger, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Uganda will introduce the vaccine into their immunization programs for the first time, joining the initial three countries.

However, the initial doses of the vaccine are expected to arrive in the countries mentioned above during the last quarter of 2023, with the rollout commencing in early 2024.

Thabani Maphosa, the Managing Director of Country Programmes Delivery at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, emphasized the potential impact of the vaccine, saying, “This vaccine has the potential to be very impactful in the fight against malaria, and when broadly deployed alongside other interventions, it can prevent tens of thousands of future deaths every year.”

Malaria remains one of the deadliest diseases in Africa, claiming the lives of nearly half a million children under the age of five each year. It accounts for approximately 95 per cent of global malaria cases and 96 per cent of deaths in 2021.

Ephrem T Lemango, UNICEF Associate Director of Immunization, highlighted the significance of the vaccine, stating, “Nearly every minute, a child under 5 years old dies of malaria. For a long time, these deaths have been preventable and treatable; but the roll-out of this vaccine will give children, especially in Africa, an even better chance at surviving.”

Dr Kate O’Brien, WHO Director of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals, emphasized the importance of the vaccine in improving child health and survival, stating, “The malaria vaccine is a breakthrough to improve child health and child survival, and families and communities, rightly, want this vaccine for their children.”

The RTS,S/AS01 vaccine is developed and produced by GSK, and supplied by Bharat Biotech. However, due to the estimated annual demand for malaria vaccines reaching 40–60 million doses by 2026 and growing to 80–100 million doses per year by 2030, a second vaccine, R21/Matrix-M, developed by Oxford University and manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII), is expected to support the increased supply to meet the rising demand.

Credit: Gavi