Twelve African countries will receive 18 million doses of the first-ever malaria vaccine for the 2023-2025 period, a critical step in combating the disease.
The allocations are based on the Framework for Allocation of Limited Malaria Vaccine Supply, which prioritizes doses to areas of highest need, where the risk of malaria illness and death among children is highest.
The Malaria Vaccine Implementation Programme (MVIP) has been delivering the vaccine since 2019, with over 1.7 million children in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi receiving doses since 2019.
The vaccine has been shown to be safe and effective, reducing severe malaria and child deaths.
At least 28 African countries have expressed interest in receiving the vaccine.
The initial 18 million dose allocation will enable nine more countries, including Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Niger, Sierra Leone, and Uganda, to introduce the vaccine into their routine immunization programs for the first time.
The first doses are expected to arrive in countries during the last quarter of 2023, with countries starting to roll them out by early 2024.
Thabani Maphosa, Managing Director of Country Programmes Delivery at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, emphasizes the vaccine’s potential impact in the fight against malaria and its potential to prevent tens of thousands of future deaths annually.
