Nigeria has received its first shipment of 846,000 doses of the R21 malaria vaccine from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
Muhammad Pate, the coordinating minister of heath and social welfare launched the vaccines in Abuja on Thursday.
An additional 140,000 doses of malaria vaccines are expected in the coming months, as the aim is to secure one million doses in this initial phase.
Pate while expressing his excitement for the shipment of the vaccines, emphasised its importance in preventing malaria that claims hundreds of thousands of lives in the country every year, with children bearing the most burden.
The World Health Organisation had in December 2023 added R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine to its list of prequalified vaccines.
In October 2023, WHO recommended its use for the prevention of malaria in children following the advice of the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunisation and the Malaria Policy Advisory Group.
Nigeria’s health minister said the malaria vaccines are an opportunity for every child to live a life free of the disease.
“Every child that has full course of the vaccine has an opportunity to live a life of health. A child that is immunised against the disease has an opportunity to live a life free of that disease. So it’s a miracle, but it’s also a source of opportunity”, the minister said adding that “they are safe and efficacious.”
The minister noted that the vaccines are not enough for the population, and urged all the Nigerians to take advantage of the limited availability, and to discount misinformation for uninformed people who sometimes have their own agendas or may not understand what they are talking about.
Muyi Aina, the director general of the NPHCDA, outlined the agency’s plans for distribution. He announced that a task force would be established to oversee the rollout, with the specific dates and locations for vaccine administration to be communicated in due course.
The National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP) has been working to reduce malaria prevalence to below 10% and malaria-related deaths to fewer than 50 per 1,000 people by 2025.
Efforts have included switching to injectable artesunate for severe malaria treatment and increasing coverage of preventive malaria treatments for pregnant women.
