Malawi becomes world’s first country to roll out ground-breaking malaria vaccine
- After more than three decades in development and almost US$1 billion in investment, the new vaccine began to be distributed in Lilongwe, the nation’s capital
- Branded Mosquirix, the medication has passed lengthy scientific trials, which found it to reduce the risk of malaria by nearly 40 per cent
Malawi on Tuesday rolled out the world’s first licensed malaria vaccine in a landmark campaign against a disease that each year kills hundreds of thousands of people, especially African children.
After more than three decades in development and almost US$1 billion in investment, the new vaccine began to be distributed in Malawi’s capital Lilongwe. It will be extended to Kenya and Ghana in coming weeks.
“We have seen tremendous gains from bed nets and other measures to control malaria in the last 15 years but progress has stalled and even reversed in some areas,” World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.
“We need new solutions to get the malaria response back on track, and this vaccine gives us a promising tool to get there.”
Known by its lab initials as RTS,S but branded Mosquirix, the vaccine has passed lengthy scientific trials, which found it to be safe and reduced the risk of malaria by nearly 40 per cent – the best-ever recorded. It was approved by European regulators in 2015.
