The first rollout of the vaccine will be in Bayelsa and Kebbi, two states with high seasonal transmission of malaria. On Thursday, the Nigerian government received 846,200 doses of the R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccines from GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance. This is the first batch of the vaccine to be handed to Nigeria since it was endorsed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) alongside the RTS,S vaccine in October 2023.
At the handing over ceremony of the vaccine in Abuja, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Pate, described the development as a significant milestone in Nigeria's fight against malaria. He also stated that a balance of 153,800 more doses are expected on 26 October to make it a million malaria vaccines. The minister said Nigeria plans to combine the vaccine with other existing tools proven to be effective in controlling and eliminating malaria in the country.
He said the country plans to "optimise the tools available, such as bed nets, seasonal chemoprevention, intermittent preventive treatment, expanding case management and layering on top of it newer tools like vaccines and tailoring efforts to different parts of the country." As the country prepares to administer the new anti-malaria vaccine and scale up its efforts on malaria elimination and control, here are ten important facts about the new R21 vaccine that you should know. 1.
Malaria vaccine development began 60 years ago Malaria vaccines have been in development for almost 60 years..
