Rollout of a new malaria vaccine kicks off in Africa

LONDON — Starting Monday, a new, highly effective malaria vaccine will be rolled out for the first time, as an immunization campaign for children kicks off in Cameroon — a day that global health officials say marked a historic step in the decades-long quest to protect people from one of the world’s deadliest infections.

The vaccine drive in Cameroon — the first launch of the vaccine outside of clinical trials and pilot programs — comes as some 20 African countries make plans for their own rollouts this year in the face of rising malaria cases and deaths.

“We are not just witnessing, but actively participating in a transformative chapter in African public health history,” said Mohammed Abdulaziz, the head of disease control and prevention at Africa CDC.

Africa bears the brunt of malaria, a mosquito-borne disease, with 95% of fatal cases occurring on the continent. Nearly half a million children die from the disease in Africa each year. Overall, malaria has killed more than 600,000 people in each of the past few years, up from 576,000 in 2019.

“For a long time, we have been waiting for a day like this,” Abdulaziz told reporters. “It brings more than just hope. It brings a reduction in the mortality and morbidity associated with malaria.”

The vaccine being delivered in Cameroon is known as RTS,S, or Mosquirix, and is made by GSK. Another malaria vaccine, called R21, was developed by University of Oxford researchers and is being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India.

Both of the multidose vaccines have won recommendations from the World Health Organization for children starting at 5 months old, and are in the process of being scaled up and readied for rollouts. They are the first vaccines against any parasite and are considered to be about equally effective.

In trials, the vaccines prevented about half of clinical malaria cases in the year after vaccination, and providing the shots seasonally reduced cases by about three-quarters, said Kate O’Brien, a top vaccines official at the WHO.

Having two safe and effective vaccines available “is expected to result in sufficient supply to meet the high demand,” O’Brien said.

The RTS,S vaccine will be available in 42 districts in Cameroon for any eligible child who comes to the clinic, said Aurélia Nguyen, the chief program officer at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which is helping coordinate vaccine shipments. In Cameroon, where malaria cases and deaths have been on the rise since 2017, nearly 30% of all hospital consultations are malaria related, she said.

Health officials also stressed that the availability of the new vaccines should not take away from other efforts to address malaria cases, including the use of bed nets and the spraying of insecticides.

The success of the rollouts will depend not just on building up supply of the vaccines but also on local preparations and execution, health officials said. The WHO recommends that children receive four doses of the vaccine, so it will require parents to make repeat visits to clinics.

Mbianke Livancliff, the senior immunization officer at Value Health Africa, a nongovernmental organization based in Cameroon, said health workers had been meeting with communities about the vaccines and are ready to address misinformation about the immunizations that could contribute to reduced uptake.

“Awareness is key in this rollout,” Livancliff said. “We are beginning to look at, what are the community dynamics? What are the community expectations? What are the community views, opinions?”