Malaria vaccine roll out begins - 13th October 2021

The World Health Organisation has authorized the first malaria vaccine for widespread use in Africa. For WHO Director, Tedros Adhanom, it was a significant moment in history.

Tedros Adhanom: "As some of you may know, I started my career as a malaria researcher, and I longed for the day that we would have an effective vaccine against this ancient and terrible disease. And today is that day, a historic day."

Malaria is a disease transmitted by mosquitoes, which kills more than 400,000 people a year, mostly children in Africa.

The decision to approve the vaccine was taken after a test programme in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi proved successful.

WHO Africa's director Matshidiso Moeti comments.

Matshidiso Moeti: "Today's recommendation therefore offers a glimmer of hope for the continent. We expect many more African children will be protected from malaria and grow into healthy and productive adults."

The vaccine produced by GlaxoSmithKline was first developed in 1987 and it has taken over 30 years to reach the point of rollout. It’s now recommended for children in sub-Saharan Africa and other regions with moderate to high malaria transmission. More than half of malaria deaths are in sub-Saharan African countries with one child dying every two minutes.

Pamela Amboko is a nurse, administering the vaccine at a centre in Kenya.

Pamela Amboko: "The vaccine has done a great job to the children, it's actually done a great deal of improvement. Our children before this used to come with severe malaria, with convulsions, and even anaemia because of frequent attacks of malaria, but now because of the immunisation, most of them are not coming in that state of anaemia. So actually, we are better off with the vaccine."

The vaccine acts against the deadliest malaria parasites. Each child will need to receive four doses before the age of two for it to be most effective.

As further vaccines are in development by BioNtech and Britain’s Oxford University, the challenge remains as to how to finance their effective deployment, but with the estimated cost of malaria to the African economy, of around $12 billion a year, a solution is urgently needed.