A ‘new era’ in malaria control has begun with a vaccination campaign for children in Ivory Coast

Ivory Coast launches new malaria vaccine campaign, aiming to protect 2,50,000 children under two in West Africa.

Health workers in Ivory Coast began giving children the latest malaria vaccine on Monday, July 15, 2024, the beginning of a regional campaign that experts hope might curb the impact of one of Africa's top killers.

The West African country became the first to start rolling out the newest shot targeting malaria in an effort that aims to cover about 2,50,000 children under two. The three-dose vaccine known as R21/Matrix-M was developed by Britain's Oxford University and was authorized by the World Health Organization last October.

Research suggests it is more than 75 per cent effective at preventing severe disease and death in the first year, and that protection is extended for at least another year with a booster.

Alice Kanga was one of the many who brought their children to get vaccinated Monday. “It's really important for the children, for their health," she said.

In 2021, WHO endorsed the first malaria vaccine, known as Mosquirix, made by GSK. But that vaccine requires four doses and protection fades within months. GSK also previously said it would only be able to make about 15 million doses.

But India's Serum Institute has already made 25 million doses of the Oxford vaccine and says it plans to make at least 100 million every year, at a cost of about USD 4 per dose.

More than 94 per cent of the world's roughly 249 million malaria cases and 6,08,000 deaths every year are in Africa. The parasitic disease is spread by mosquitoes and most often strikes children under five and pregnant women.