Nigeria launches malaria vaccines to protect children Thursday

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Nigeria will launch the much anticipated malaria vaccines on Thursday, October 17 to protect children from the deadly diseases.

The launch, led by Muhammad Pate, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare will take place in Abuja, according to an invitation from the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA).

Malaria remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Nigeria, with the country bearing the highest burden globally. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Nigeria recorded an estimated 68 million cases and 194,000 malarial deaths in 2022, translating into over 500 deaths daily.

The WHO 2023 malaria report showed Nigeria accounted for 27 percent of the global malaria burden. Children are the most vulnerable population with as much as 36 percent of under-five mortality in Nigeria attributed to malaria.

Read also: African Leaders rally to save dwindling malaria funding

The global health body approved two vaccines: the RTS,S known by the brand name Mosquirix, and the more effective R21/Matrix-M, which has shown 77 percent efficacy in initial trials.

Pate, had in an interview with BusinessDay revealed that some doses of the R21 vaccine have been secured and will be deployed in Bayelsa and Kebbi states as part of a pilot rollout.

He said the pilot phase will allow the government to assess the effectiveness of the deployment strategy before expanding the programme nationwide.

“We’ve secured some doses of this malaria vaccine which will be deployed to Bayelsa and and Kebbi states so that we see how the rollout goes, and then in parallel, identify where the money is going to come from,” he noted.

The minister also disvlclosed than an estiamted $250 million will be required to cover the targeted population across the country.

Meanwhile, no fewer than nine countries in the African region, including Uganda, Burundi, Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone, Benin, Cameroon, and Liberia have rolled out the RTS,S vaccine targeting millions of children.