It is the first time that a childhood vaccination campaign against malaria has been launched in the world. Cameroon, where the incidence of the disease has increased more than 30% since 2017, will be the first to begin mass immunization of boys and girlsalthough this 2024 another twenty African countries and India will follow suit, where the incidence is also beginning to be worrying.

The two vaccines authorized by the World Health Organization (WHO): RTS,S/AS01 and R21/Matrix-M will be used in the 42 Cameroonian populations at highest risk of contracting the disease. They will be inoculated as part of the childhood vaccination schedules with three doses starting at five months of age and a fourth dose during the second year of life. These vaccines, as explained by Kate O’Brien, director of the Department of Immunization, Vaccines and Biological Products at the WHO, They prevent approximately 75% of malaria cases, after a “successful pilot program.”

The WHO speaks of a “historic milestone”

The WHO reminds us that taking into account the 250 million cases of malaria diagnosed annually, a childhood vaccine (with this level of effectiveness) can achieve significant reductions in illnesses or deaths from malaria.

In Africa, malaria claims the lives of half a million children each year.