Cameroon starts world's first malaria vaccine program for children

Cameroon will be the first country to routinely give children a new malaria vaccine as the shots are rolled out in Africa.

The campaign due to start on January 22 was described by officials as a milestone in the decades-long effort to curb the mosquito-spread disease on the continent, which accounts for 95% of the world’s malaria deaths.

The Central Africa nation hopes to vaccinate about 2,50,000 children this year and next year. 

Gavi said it is working with 20 other African countries to help them get the vaccine and that those countries will hopefully immunise more than six million children through 2025.

In Africa, there are about 250 million cases of the parasitic disease each year, including 6,00,000 deaths, mostly in young children.

Cameroon will use the first of two recently approved malaria vaccines, known as Mosquirix. 

The World Health Organization endorsed the vaccine two years ago, acknowledging that even though it is imperfect, its use would still dramatically reduce severe infections and hospitalisations.