Global Vaccine Alliance (GAVI), the World Health Organisation and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Wednesday announced that 12 African countries would receive the malaria vaccine.
In a statement, the agencies stated that the countries would receive 18 million doses of the first-ever vaccine against malaria over the next two years.
The RTS,S vaccine has been administered to more than 1.6 million children in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi since 2019 and has been shown to be safe and effective.
It resulted in a substantial reduction in severe malaria and a fall in child deaths.
The WHO director-general Tedros Ghebreyesus said malaria remained one of Africa’s deadliest diseases, killing nearly half a million children under five every year, accounting for approximately 96 per cent of global malaria deaths in 2021.
“With the climate crisis changing weather patterns, mosquitoes that carry these diseases are increasing in density and spreading further afield,” said Mr Ghebreyesus, speaking…
