First Malaria Vaccine Program For Children Launched In Cameroon

(CTN News) – The Cameroon government will routinely administer malaria vaccines to children as the shots are rolled out across Africa.

As part of its decades-long campaign to curb the mosquito-spread disease, which accounts for 95% of malaria deaths worldwide, the campaign due to begin on January 22 was described by officials as a milestone.

Malaria Vaccine will save lives. Gavi vaccines alliance is assisting Cameroon to secure the vaccines, and it will provide relief to families and the country’s health system,” said Aurelia Nguyen, chief program officer at Gavi.

A total of 2,50,000 children will be vaccinated this year and next year in Central Africa. More than six million children will hopefully be immunized throughout 2025 with the help of Gavi’s partnership with 20 other African countries.

There are about 250 million cases of the parasitic disease in Africa each year, including 6,000 deaths, primarily in children.

Known as Mosquirix, the second malaria vaccine recently approved by the World Health Organization will be used in Cameroon. Even though the vaccine is imperfect, the World Health Organization endorsed it two years ago, acknowledging that its use can reduce severe infections and hospitalizations.

There is only about 30% effectiveness to the GlaxoSmithKline shot, it requires four doses, and protection fades after a few months.

Malaria Vaccine were tested in Africa and used in three pilot programs.

The World Health Organization approved a second malaria vaccine developed by Oxford University and approved by GSK in October. According to estimates, GSK is only able to produce about 15 million doses of Mosquirix each year. The Serum Institute in India has reported that they can produce 200 million doses of the vaccine each year, which is cheaper and requires three doses.

Hopefully, there will be enough Oxford vaccines available to start immunizing people later this year, according to Gavi’s Nguyen.

Since neither malaria vaccine stops transmission, other tools such as bed nets and insecticidal spraying are still necessary. People can develop malaria symptoms such as fever, headaches, chills and headaches by being infected by mosquitoes carrying the malaria parasite.

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