Africa is formally launching a new, superior malaria vaccine that was created by the University of Oxford and the Serum Institute of India. As a result, Côte d’Ivoire is now the first nation in West Africa to implement R21/Matrix-M.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has approved.
Following a lengthy regulatory procedure and clinical study, the World Health Organization (WHO) authorized the R21/Matrix-M vaccine last year, finding it to be both highly effective and reasonably priced. A major advancement in halting the spread of the mosquito-borne illness might be made possible by the low-dose vaccine’s ability to be manufactured rapidly and in large quantities.
It is feasible to lessen the impact of malaria.
Reducing the malaria load is now doable, according to the CEO of the Serum Institute of India Adar Poonawalla. The R21/Matrix-M vaccine roll-out is officially underway today, marking a significant accomplishment after years of amazing collaboration with Oxford and Novavax.
Adar Poonawalla went on to say that Serum believes that everyone has the right to inexpensive, necessary illness prevention. For this reason, we have pledged to create 100 million doses of R21, a vaccine that will save millions of lives and lessen the impact of this fatal illness on future generations. As of right now, the Serum Institute of India has produced 25 million doses out of an annual capacity of 100 million doses.
The introduction of the R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine, according to Professor Adrian Hill, Director of the Jenner Institute at Oxford University, heralds a new era in malaria control interventions. A highly effective vaccine is now widely available for many countries that are most in need at a reasonable cost. We hope that any African nation that wants to utilize this vaccine will be able to have it very quickly.
John C. Jacobs, President and CEO of Novavax, claims that the R21 / Matrix-M vaccine is a crucial tool in the fight against malaria, which affects about half of the world’s population and has a catastrophic financial effect. Based on the available data, R21 / Matrix-M has been administered in total to 656,600 doses in Africa. In 16 areas of Côte d’Ivoire, 250,000 children between the ages of 23 months will get vaccinations at first. Ghana, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, and the Central African Republic have also approved the R21/Matrix-M vaccine.