World health organization has been suggested R21/Matrix-M vaccination to prevent malaria in young infants.
Nigeria becomes the Second to approve the vaccine
The WHO Director-General, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, approved the recommendation following the opinion of the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunisation and the Malaria Policy Advisory Group, which was held between September 25 and 29.
This was revealed on Monday in a press release from the international health organisation. After Ghana, Nigeria became the second nation in April to approve the R21 malaria vaccine.
Only the second vaccination developed for a disease that has caused unimaginable agony for millennia, the R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine, was created by the University of Oxford and produced and scaled up by the Serum Institute of India.
WHO also recommend other vaccine
Along with vaccination schedules and COVID-19 product recommendations, WHO also made recommendations based on SAGE’s guidance for new vaccines against dengue and meningitis.
In addition, the WHO released important recommendations for immunisation programmes related to polio, the Immunisation Agenda 2030, and reviving the immunisation effort.
Following the RTS/AS01 vaccine, which was endorsed by WHO in 2021, the R21 vaccine is the second malaria vaccine the organisation has approved.
The Vaccine has proved effective in children
Part of the statement said, “Both vaccines are shown to be safe and effective in preventing malaria in children and, when widely implemented, are expected to have a high public health impact.
“Children in the African region are particularly burdened by malaria, a mosquito-borne illness that kills approximately 500,000 children annually.
The demand for malaria vaccinations, according to the WHO, is unprecedented; nevertheless, there is a limited supply of the RTS/AS01 vaccine.
12 African countries has received the vaccine
Twelve African nations received a total of 18 million doses of RTS, S/AS01, in July in response to the intense demand for the first-ever malaria vaccine. This allocation is valid for the years 2023–2025.
Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Niger, Sierra Leone, and Uganda were among the countries that received the distributions.
However, it is anticipated that the inclusion of R21 on the list of malaria vaccinations that the WHO recommends will lead to an adequate supply of vaccines that will benefit all kids living in places where malaria poses a public health danger.
WHO records two types of malaria vaccines
“As a researcher on malaria, I used to daydream about the possibility of developing a malaria vaccine that is both secure and efficient. We now have two,” Dr. Ghebreyesus remarked.
The second vaccine is a crucial instrument to protect more children more quickly and to move us closer to our goal of a world without malaria because demand for the RTS-S vaccine significantly outstrips availability.
Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, stressed the significance of this advice for the continent, saying: “This second vaccination holds genuine promise to close the enormous demand-and-supply imbalance.
The vaccines would reduce malaria death rates
The two vaccinations, if widely distributed and distributed at scale, could support efforts to prevent and control malaria and protect hundreds of thousands of children in Africa from this deadly disease.
Jerrymusa.com reports that As part of their national immunisation efforts, at least 28 African nations want to implement a malaria vaccine that has been approved by the WHO. The Vaccine Alliance, Gavi, has authorised offering financial and technical assistance to distribute malaria vaccinations to 18 nations.
The RTSS vaccine will be introduced in some African nations in early 2024, and the R21 malaria vaccine is anticipated to be made available to nations in mid-2024, according to the WHO. Nigeria has made significant strides but still accounts for about 27% of the world’s malaria cases, according to Moeti.
According to Moeti, malaria incidence in Nigeria has decreased by 26% since 2000, from 413 per 1000 to 302 per 1000 in 2021, and malaria deaths have decreased by 55%, from 2.1 per 1000 people to 0.9 per 1000 people.
The size of Nigeria’s population, which makes scaling up intervention difficult, subpar surveillance systems, which only collect less than 40% of the country’s malaria data, insufficient funding to ensure universal interventions across all states, and health-seeking behaviour, where people preferentially use the private sector with little regulation, are all contributing factors, according to the author.