Umamah Bakharia | ub@radioislam.co.za

2 min read
13 April 2023 | 20:30 CAT

Ghana has become the first country in the world to approve a new malaria vaccine from Oxford University, with the specific aim of vaccinating children under the age of three years.

Picture credit: Reuters

According to statistics, the mosquito-borne disease kills more than 600 000 people each year, most of them being children in Africa.

The vaccine from Oxford comes after a scientists have been trying for years to develop vaccines that will target the disease.

However, it is unclear when the Oxford vaccine will be rolled out in Ghana.

Oxford scientist Adrian Hill said Ghana’s drug regulator had approved the vaccine for the age group at highest risk of death from malaria – children aged 5 months to 36 months. This is in a deal with Serum Institute of India to produce up to 200 million doses annually.

Typically, childhood vaccines in Africa are paid for by international organisations such like Gavi and UNICEF after they have been backed by the World Health Organisation (WHO), through which the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness is assessed.

This is the first time a major vaccine has been approved in an African country first ahead of rich nations, said Hill, adding that the step was unusual that a regulatory authority in Africa had reviewed the data quicker than the WHO.

“Particularly since COVID, African regulators have been taking a much more proactive stance, they’ve been saying…we don’t want to be last in the queue,” said Hill.

The first malaria vaccine, Mosquirix from British drugmaker GSK, was endorsed by the WHO last year after decades of work. However, a lack of funding and commercial potential torpedoed the company’s capacity to produce enough vaccines as needed.