Gavi, UNICEF allocate 18m doses of malaria vaccine to 12 African countries

Gavi, the vaccine alliance, says it has allocated 18 million doses of the RTS,S/AS01 (RTS,S) malaria vaccine to 12 African countries over the next two years.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) endorsed the widespread use of the malaria vaccine on October 6, 2021.

In a statement on Wednesday, Gavi said while at least 28 African countries have expressed interest in receiving the malaria vaccine, the allocations were determined by prioritising areas of highest need, where the risk of malaria illness and death among children are highest.

The organisation said since 2019, 1.7 million children in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi have received the vaccine through the malaria vaccine implementation programme (MVIP), coordinated by the WHO and funded by Gavi, and the Global Fund.

 According to Gavi, the 18-million dose allocation would enable nine more countries, in addition to Ghana, Kenya and Malawi, to introduce the vaccine into their routine immunisation programmes for the first time.

The nine countries include Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Niger, Sierra Leone and Uganda.

“This allocation round makes use of the supply of vaccine doses available to Gavi, vaccine alliance via UNICEF. The first doses of the vaccine are expected to arrive in countries during the last quarter of 2023, with countries starting to roll them out by early 2024,” the statement reads.

Ephrem Lemango, UNICEF associate director of immunisation, said the roll-out of the vaccine will give children in Africa an even better chance at surviving.

“Nearly every minute, a child under five years old dies of malaria. For a long time, these deaths have been preventable and treatable. As supply increases, we hope even more children can benefit from this life-saving advancement,” Lemango said.

Meanwhile, in April, the federal government said the RTS,S malaria vaccine was expected to be available in the country by 2024.

Nigeria had reportedly missed the second application window for the vaccine which closed on January 17, 2023. It was not clear if the country applied for the third window which opened until April 18.