18 million doses of the first-ever malaria vaccine are set to be distributed in 12 African countries.
Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, WHO, and UNICEF in a press release dated July 5, said Kenya is among the countries that had been delivering the vaccine through the Malaria Vaccine Implementation Programme (MVIP) since 2019.
Other Countries are Ghana and Malawi.
“In addition to Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi, the initial 18 million dose allocation will enable nine more countries, including Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Niger, Sierra Leone, and Uganda, to introduce the vaccine into their routine immunization programs for the first time,” read the statement in part.
The beneficiary countries were selected through the application of the principle outlined in a framework for the allocation of limited malaria vaccines by prioritizing doses to areas where the risk of malaria illness and death among children is highest.
However, at least 28 African countries have shown interest in joining the list of 12 countries receiving the vaccine.
The first doses of the vaccine are expected to arrive in countries during the last quarter of this year to be rolled out in the selected countries by early 2024.