Cabo Delgado: Drivers do double speed limit on 'corridor of terror' road
FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: News-Medical.Net/Novikov Aleksey]
Mozambique plans to introduce the new malaria vaccine in the second half of 2024, immunizing 600,000 children, said today, in an interview with Lusa, the director of the National Malaria Control Program, Baltazar Candrinho.
“Mozambique will introduce the malaria vaccine this year. It will start on a small scale, in one province, and then we will move on to the remaining provinces next year,” Baltazar Candrinho assured Lusa, anticipating World Malaria Day, which is annually observed on April 25th.
The official added that the R21/Matrix-M vaccine will be used, the second malaria vaccine for children, developed by the University of Oxford, United Kingdom, and approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) last October.
Baltazar Candrinho said the vaccine would be introduced in the second semester, vaccinating children under 5 years old, in a province to be announced later, a process that will be extended “next year” to others.
He added that human resources are currently being trained for the vaccine’s administration, as well as creating material conditions for its conservation in health facilities.
The director of the National Malaria Control Program added that it is the Mozambican government’s goal to start vaccination nationwide in 2025, when “there will be greater availability of the vaccine on the market.”
“There is not enough vaccine production for all countries. So distribution was made in small quantities and on a small scale. But the guarantee is that next year we will expand. The amount we can have this year will cover one province, and we will choose the one with the highest malaria burden,” explained Baltazar Candrinho.
The vaccine to be used in Mozambique is the second recommended by the WHO, following RTS,S/AS01 in 2021, following the advice of the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) and the Malaria Policy Advisory Group (MPAG).
According to the WHO, both vaccines have been shown to be safe and effective in preventing malaria in children and, when widely applied, are expected to have a major impact on public health.
“The demand for the RTS,S vaccine far exceeds the supply, so this second vaccine is a vital additional tool to protect more children more quickly and to move us closer to our vision of a malaria-free future,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus last October.
The R21/Matrix-M vaccine was approved by SAGE after its regular semi-annual meeting held between September 25 and 29 last year.
“This second vaccine has real potential to bridge the enormous gap between supply and demand,” observed the WHO Regional Director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, last October, adding that the two vaccines can help “save hundreds of thousands of young lives” on the African continent.
In Africa, according to the WHO, almost half a million children die each year from malaria. The WHO expects the new vaccine to benefit all children living in areas where the disease is a risk to public health.
“In areas with highly seasonal malaria transmission (largely limited to four or five months per year), the R21 vaccine has been shown to reduce symptomatic cases by 75% in the 12 months following a series of three doses,” when administered immediately before the season, the organization stated.
“Mathematical model estimates indicate that the impact of the R21 vaccine on public health is expected to be high in a wide range of malaria transmission sites, including low transmission areas,” emphasized Matshidiso Moeti, adding that it costs between two and four dollars per dose.
At least 28 countries in Africa plan to introduce a malaria vaccine recommended by the WHO as part of their national immunization programs.
Leave a Reply
Be the First to Comment!
You must be logged in to post a comment.
You must be logged in to post a comment.