Today, Cameroon became the first nation to introduce the RTS-S malaria vaccine into its regular national immunisation plan, bypassing the malaria vaccine pilot scheme that was implemented in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi. The introduction coincides with increased efforts to immunise people against the disease in high-risk African regions.
In both public and commercial healthcare facilities, the vaccine is being distributed throughout 42 health districts located in the 10 regions of the country. Following Cameroon’s receipt of 331,200 vaccination doses in November 2023, the rollout takes place. We anticipate more doses in the upcoming weeks.
“The vaccine is an additional tool for malaria control. It has been chosen by the country based on its pre-qualification, ensuring guaranteed quality, efficacy, and safety for inclusion in the vaccination programme,” said Dr Shalom Ndoula, Permanent Secretary of the Expanded Programme on Immunization in Cameroon. “It will specifically target all children aged six months as of 31st December 2023.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) assisted the national health authorities in strengthening important vaccine introduction measures before the launch, along with support from GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, UNICEF, the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Clinton Health Access Initiative.
Adopting national vaccination policies and guidelines, integrating the new vaccine into the schedule of other vaccines and health interventions, creating an operational roll-out plan, training healthcare personnel, investing in infrastructure, technical capacity, vaccine storage, community engagement, and demand generation, as well as ensuring formative supervision, monitoring, and evaluation of the process to ensure quality vaccine delivery, are all necessary for an effective vaccine introduction.
Cameroon is among the 11 countries most affected by the disease globally. The country recorded more than 3 million cases and over 3800 deaths in 2021. Cameroon has made the fight against malaria one of the priorities of its National Health Development Plan.
As part of the trial initiative known as the Malaria Vaccine Implementation Initiative (MVIP), children in certain regions in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi have been receiving the RTS-S vaccine in a four-dose regimen since 2019. Through the Malaria Vaccination Initiative Programme (MVIP), over 2 million children in three African countries have received the malaria vaccine, totalling over 8 million doses. This has led to a noteworthy 13% decrease in all-cause mortality among children who meet the eligibility criteria for the vaccine, as well as significant decreases in hospitalisations and severe malaria cases.
