Côte d'Ivoire has begun vaccinating children against malaria using a new, affordable vaccine that it's hoped will prove a game changer in the fight against the deadly disease. Several other countries in Africa are expected to roll it out this year.
Health workers in Côte d'Ivoire began administering free doses of the R21/Matrix-M vaccine on Monday, in the first official vaccination campaign to use it.
Around 250,000 infants under two are expected to benefit in 16 regions across the country, where malaria kills four people a day, mostly young children.
"This disease is devastating and does a lot of damage," one resident, Achiaou Aremu, told French news agency AFP in Abidjan.
She said she would get her grandchildren the jab soon.
"It won't be long now, to prevent them from getting malaria because when a child already has the vaccine, he's saved."
'New era'
South Sudan starts a similar drive on Tuesday, according to the University of Oxford, which developed the vaccine in partnership with the Serum Institute of India (SII).
The Central African Republic, Ghana and Nigeria are among the other countries preparing to roll it out.
Adrian Hill, director of Oxford University's Jenner Institute, called it "the start of a new era" in malaria control, with more than 25 million doses of the vaccine already available at less than $4 each.
"We hope that very soon this vaccine can be provided to all countries in Africa who wish to use it," Hill said in a statement.
World's second malaria vaccine
R21 is the second vaccine to be endorsed by the World Health Organization, after the RTS,S/Mosquirix vaccine made by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).
More than two million children in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi have already received that vaccine as part of a pilot programme started in 2019, while Cameroon became the first country to roll it out in January 2024.
Since then, Burkina Faso, Benin and Sierra Leone have also added it to their roster of routine childhood immunisations.
Cameroon receives first shipment of 'breakthrough' malaria vaccine
Unlike RTS,S, which requires four doses, with three doses R21 is more than 75 percent effective at preventing severe disease and death in the first year.
Protection can also be extended for at least another year with a booster shot.
SII says it plans to make 100 million doses of the R21 vaccine every year, while GSK has previously said it would only be able to make about 15 million doses of RTS,S.
15 countries this year
Both vaccines are being rolled out in Africa with the support of Gavi, the global vaccine alliance that helps poor countries buy vaccines.
Gavi aims to assist 15 African countries to introduce malaria vaccines in 2024, potentially protecting around 6.6 million children this year and the next.
More than 94 percent of the world's 249 million malaria cases and 608,000 deaths every year are in Africa, according to the WHO.
The mosquito-borne disease is most dangerous to children under five and pregnant women.
Vaccines do not prevent malaria spreading, however, and public health experts stress that mosquito nets, insecticides and hygiene measures remain essential.
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(with newswires)
