Twelve countries across the continent of Africa are set to receive 18 million doses of the first-ever malaria vaccine for the next two years, according to Gavi, WHO and UNICEF.
The roll out, according to the WHO is a step in the fight against malaria, one of the leading causes of death on the African continent.
Malaria Vaccine Implementation Programme countries Ghana, Kenya and Malawi will receive doses to continue vaccinations in pilot areas.
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In addition to Ghana, Kenya and Malawi allocations are also made for implementation starter countries such as Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Niger, Sierra Leone and Uganda.
The allocations were determined through the application of principles outlined in the Framework for allocation of limited malaria vaccine supply that prioritizes doses to areas where the risk of malaria illness and death among children are highest.
Ghana, Kenya and Malawi have been delivering the malaria vaccine through the Malaria Vaccine Implementation Programme (MVIP) coordinated by WHO and funded by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and Unitaid since 2019.
The RTS,S/AS01 vaccine has been administered to more than 1.7 million children in the three countries under the MVIP and has been proven to be safe and effective, resulting in a substantial reduction in severe malaria and drop in malaria related child deaths in the implementation countries.
According to the WHO, about 28 countries across different regions in Africa have expressed interest in receiving the malaria vaccine.
The allocation makes use of the supply of vaccine doses available to Gavi, Vaccine Alliance through UNICEF.
The first doses of the vaccine are expected to arrive in recieving countries in the last quarter of 2023 for countries are already enrolled and countries starting to roll them out by early 2024.
“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,”.
“While we work with manufacturers to help ramp up supply, we need to make sure the doses that we do have are used as effectively as possible, which means applying all the learnings from our pilot programmes as we broaden out to a new total of 12 countries.”
Malaria remains one of Africa’s deadliest diseases, killing nearly half a million children under the age of 5, and accounting for approximately 95% of global malaria cases and 96% of deaths in 2021.
“Nearly every minute, a child under 5 years old dies of malaria,” said UNICEF Associate Director of Immunization Ephrem T Lemango. “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. As supply increases, we hope even more children can benefit from this life-saving advancement.”
“The malaria vaccine is a breakthrough to improve child health and child survival; and families and communities, rightly, want this vaccine for their children. This first allocation of malaria vaccine doses is prioritised for children at highest risk of dying of malaria,” said Dr Kate O’Brien, WHO Director of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals.
“The high demand for the vaccine and the strong reach of childhood immunisation will increase equity in access to malaria prevention and save many young lives. We will work tirelessly to increase supply until all children at risk have access,” said Thabani Maphosa, Managing Director of Country Programmes Delivery at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
Due to limited supply in the first years of the roll-out of the new vaccine in 2022, WHO convened expert advisors, primarily from Africa to support the development of a Framework for the allocation of limited malaria vaccine supply.
The WHO said the Framework is based on ethical principles on a foundation of solidarity which proposes that the vaccine allocation begin in the areas of greatest need.
The Framework implementation group that applied the framework principles included representatives of the Africa Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), UNICEF, WHO and the Gavi Secretariat, as well as representatives of civil society and independent advisors.
According to the WHO, annual global demand for malaria vaccines is estimated at 40–60 million doses by 2026 alone, growing to 80–100 million doses each year by 2030.
In addition to the RTS,S/AS01 vaccine, developed and produced by GSK, it is expected that a second vaccine, R21/Matrix-M, developed by Oxford University and manufactured by Serum Institute of India (SII), could also be prequalified by WHO soon.
About Gavi:
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is a public-private partnership that helps vaccinate half the world’s children against some of the world’s deadliest diseases.
The Vaccine Alliance brings together developing country and donor governments, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank, the vaccine industry, technical agencies, civil society, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other private sector partners.
Since its inception in 2000, Gavi has helped to immunise a whole generation – over 1 billion children – and prevented more than 16.2 million future deaths, helping to reduce child mortality by half in 73 lower-income countries.
Gavi also plays a key role in improving global health security by supporting health systems as well as funding global stockpiles for Ebola, cholera, meningococcal and yellow fever vaccines.
After two decades of progress, Gavi is now focused on protecting the next generation.
The Vaccine Alliance employs innovative financing and latest technology – from drones to biometrics to save millions more lives, prevent outbreaks before they can spread and help countries on the road to self-sufficiency.
Gavi is a co-convener of COVAX, the vaccines pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, together with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF.
