Malawi kicks off large pilot of malaria vaccine

Malawi is the first country to embark on a rollout of the world’s first malaria vaccine, according to the World Health Organization.

The country launched the RTS,S vaccine on 23 April as part of a pilot that will give 10 million doses donated by the vaccine’s manufacturer, pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, to children across three African countries. Ghana and Kenya, will begin using the vaccine “in the coming weeks”, WHO said.

The pilot programme will be used to guide the WHO’s decision-making in the broader rollout of the vaccine. The three countries were selected for high malaria transmission rates and for having “well-functioning malaria and immunization programmes”. Funding for the initiative was supplied by Gavi, the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Unitaid, the WHO, PATH, and GSK.