18 Million Malaria Vaccines Allocated

The World Health Organization (WHO) today announced that 12 African countries will receive about 18 million doses of an approved malaria vaccine over the next two years.

On July 5, 2023, the WHO confirmed GSK's Mosquirix™ RTS,S/AS01 malaria vaccine will continue in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi.

The first vaccine doses are expected to arrive in countries during the last quarter of 2023, with countries starting to roll them out by early 2024. 

The Mosquirix vaccine has been administered to over 1.7 million children since 2019. It has been shown to be safe and effective, resulting in a substantial reduction in severe malaria and a fall in child deaths.

Mosquirix allocations were also made for new vaccine introductions in Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Niger, Sierra Leone, and Uganda.

These allocations were determined by applying the principles outlined in the Framework for allocating limited malaria vaccine supply.

Malaria remains one of Africa's deadliest diseases, killing nearly half a million children under five and accounting for approximately 95% of global malaria cases in 2021.

A second malaria vaccine, R21/Matrix-M™, developed by Oxford University and manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, could also be prequalified by WHO soon.

As of July 5, 2023, these malaria vaccines are not offered in the U.S. (Florida) or Costa Rica.