According to the manufacturer of a new malaria vaccine, African governments are lining up to approve the injection, and 20 million doses will be available to them this year.
Nigeria’s medicines administration authorized the new R21 vaccination this week, following Ghana’s example. The vaccine was developed by Oxford University researchers and is manufactured by the Serum Institute of India and Novavax.
This was an unusual move since it was carried out without first seeking WHO approval. Low-resource African countries have generally relied on the United Nations agency for early medication evaluations. It is uncertain how the malaria vaccine will be afforded by the poorest nations, and there is a dearth of publicly available data from large-scale research.
Recent efforts to strengthen medication management in Africa south of the Sahara, as well as the urgency of combating a disease that kills over 600,000 people each year, the majority of whom are children under the age of five, are modifying the process.
At a high-level meeting this week, the World Health Organization said that regulatory authorities in at least ten additional African countries are currently analyzing trial data to assess the injection, with more expected to approve it in the coming weeks.
On Tuesday, Mary Hamel, WHO’s head of malaria vaccine implementation, told the expert panel, “We expect many more countries to come through.” “Because they are independent states, they have the freedom to choose which vaccines they want for their citizens.”
She did not identify which countries were next in line, although Tanzania and Kenya are among the top choices due to strong regulators and high sickness prevalence.
Professor Adrian Hill of Oxford University, who was involved in the vaccine’s development, said that its effectiveness in late-stage experiments remained between 70% and 80%. Although the World Health Organization (WHO) has approved malaria injectable manufactured by GSK Plc, it is not yet widely available due to a lack of funding.
According to Adar Poonawalla, CEO of the Serum Institute, his company’s intentions to produce 20 million doses of the Oxford injection are “at-risk” in the next two months. This shows that they have not yet found a market among African governments or non-profit organizations that are often active in procurement for developing countries.
Poonawalla stressed the need of making the R21 vaccine available to people who would gain the most from it.
Poonawalla believes there will be enough vaccine to inoculate 5 million children with the vaccine’s 4-dose schedule in time for the next malaria season, which begins in June depending on the country.
At $3 per dose, it’s worth roughly $60 million. Serum refuses to comment on the injection negotiations.
