Newborns to be prioritised for malaria vaccination

The Ministry of Health intends to prioritise newborn babies as first beneficiaries of the malaria vaccine that will be rolled out next year.

Uganda is expected to introduce the malaria vaccine in a bid to completely eliminate the life-threatening disease by 2030.

About 960,000 doses of the RTS,S vaccine that would help in the prevention of progression of severe malaria cases or even death will be available to the country by April 2024, according to Dr Jimmy Opigo, the Program Manager, National Malaria Control Programme at the Ministry of Health.

In an interview with this publication on Wednesday, Dr Opigo said global production is only limited to about 15 to 20 million doses per year and because of this, the criteria followed while allocating the vaccine to the different countries is that a country should have high prevalence of malaria cases and deaths caused by the disease.

Uganda is the third contributor of global malaria cases after Nigeria and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This is partly because of the country’s plenty of vegetation cover and proximity to the equator that makes the temperatures warm and favourable for breeding of mosquitoes.

In 2021, the World Health Organisation (WHO) reported that there were an estimated 13 million malaria cases and over 19,600 estimated deaths in the country.

Dr Opigo said, “There is a production challenge of the vaccine so the capacity to make many doses is limited until we have technology transfers but this is good enough because it is almost 10 per cent of the global doses.”

He also revealed that there is a second vaccine whose development is in the final stages, with a possibility of more production and it is expected to be cheaper.

The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (Gavi) approved Uganda's request for the vaccines, which will be integrated in the already existing routine immunisation programme.  

Asked how the government plans to adopt the uptake of the vaccine, Dr Opigo said, “There is no doubt about the fatality of malaria. People are looking forward to the vaccine. I do not think we shall have any challenges when it comes to uptake.”

The vaccine may not be available to everyone at first, according to Dr Opigo, because priority will at first be given to newborn babies who will receive three doses that are six months apart.

People living in high risk areas such as Eastern, Northern and Western (Bunyoro area) Uganda where there are more cases and deaths due to malaria will also be prioritised.

Dr Opigo, however, warns that the vaccine offers only up to 60 per cent of protection but works more effectively in combination with other complementary interventions such sleeping under a treated mosquito net, indoor residual spraying among others.

The same vaccine was piloted in Ghana in 2019 together with Malawi followed by Kenya.