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Côte d’Ivoire receives first life-saving malaria vaccines
Cote D’ivoire received its first malaria vaccines this week, the government announced on Saturday that Malaria kills four people every day in the country, the most of them are tiny children. The government reported that 656,600 pills have been received, which will “initially vaccinate 250,000 children aged between 0 and 23 […]
A Monoclonal Antibody Could Help Fight Malaria
Malaria is the world’s leading parasite-related endemic disease. The African region alone accounts for 94% of cases. Infections caused by Plasmodium falciparum, the deadly species, are the most common and severe. Furthermore, 80% of deaths occur in children younger than 5 years. Between 2000 and 2015, the incidence and mortality rates associated […]
645,000 doses of R21 malaria vaccine receives by South Sudan
The Ministry of Health of South Sudan received over 645,000 doses of the R21 malaria vaccine in Juba, which will be distributed to 28 counties with the highest malaria burden. “Malaria is the biggest killer of children in South Sudan,” says a release from Unicef. “The country grapples with one […]
Shipment of newest malaria vaccine, R21, to Central African Republic marks latest milestone for child survival
UNICEF delivered over 43 000 doses of the R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine by air to Bangui, Central African Republic, today, with more than 120 000 doses to follow in the next days. It is the first country to receive the R21 malaria vaccine for use in routine childhood immunization, marking another step forward […]
Authorities in Uganda ramp up campaign on yellow fever amid vaccine hesitancy
Uganda launched a mass vaccination campaign in April against the mosquito-borne disease, yellow fever. They hoped to reach millions of people but vaccine hesitancy has left hundreds of unused doses in hospitals across the country. There is no specific treatment for the potentially deadly yellow fever virus. There is, however, […]
FDA mollify concerns over AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine safety in Ghana
The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has reaffirmed its commitment to monitoring the safety of all vaccines used in Ghana, including COVID-19 vaccines. The FDA says that the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for AstraZeneca vaccines which expired in May 2023, coincided with the World Health Organization listing COVID-19 as no […]
New dengue vaccine TAK-003 gains WHO prequalification for high-burden areas
A new vaccine for dengue received prequalification from the World Health Organization (WHO) on 10 May 2024. TAK-003 is the second dengue vaccine to be prequalified by WHO. Developed by Takeda, it is a live-attenuated vaccine containing weakened versions of the four serotypes of the virus that cause dengue. WHO […]
AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine is no more – but its remarkable success must not be forgotten
Last week’s announcement that AstraZeneca would no longer market its Covid vaccine brings an end to one of the century’s most remarkable medical stories. Created within a year of the arrival of the pandemic, the AZ vaccine was cheap, easily stored and transported, and helped stave off humanitarian crises in Asia and […]