Liberia Receives 89K Doses of Malaria Vaccines
The arrival of the Malaria vaccines’ consignment in Liberia in late January of this year (Photo credit: VOA)
— Health Minister provides an update on first-ever malaria vaccines in country, says additional 44K pending
Liberia has received 88,780 of 112,000 vials of the malaria vaccine as part of the World Health Organization’s initiative to introduce routine immunization programs for malaria in Africa. The remaining vials of the first-ever approved malaria vaccine to be introduced are expected to arrive in July 2024, Dr. Louise Mapleh Kpoto, Minister of Health, has disclosed.
“Liberia was allotted 112,000 doses of Malaria vaccines but, in January 2024, only received 88,780 vials while the remaining 44,390 vials are expected in July 2024,” Kpoto told members of the House of Representatives on Thursday, April 4.
This allocation is part of the WHO’s Malaria Vaccine Implementation Program, benefitting 12 African countries, including Liberia. The vaccines aim to address the high incidence of malaria-related illness and death, particularly among children in Africa. The Health Ministry has prioritized six Southeastern counties for the malaria vaccine rollout, with children aged 0-23 months being targeted across 39 districts in these counties.
The Ministry of Health of Liberia, in collaboration with GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, WHO, and UNICEF, on January 23, announced the arrival of the RTS malaria vaccine — the first ever in Liberia.
Studies have shown that children under five in Liberia experience high rates of malaria infection, with a prevalence rate of 10%. The malaria vaccine marks a significant milestone in the fight against the preventable mosquito-borne disease, which kills a child aged under 5 years of age every minute in Africa, the Voice of America (VOA) said in a report on the matter.
“The arrival of this life-saving vaccine is a game changer in our fight against malaria,} Adolphus Clarke, Director of the Expanded Programme on Immunization at the Ministry of Health of Liberia, told the VOA. “We are committed to ensuring that every child in Liberia has access to this vaccine and is protected from this deadly disease.”
The 12 African countries earmarked by WHO to benefit from the total of 18 million doses of RTS, S/AS01 for the Malaria Vaccine Implementation Program from 2023 to 2025 are Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Niger, Sierra Leone, Uganda, and Liberia.
The allocations have been determined through the application of the principles outlined in the Framework for allocation of limited malaria vaccine supply that prioritizes those doses to areas of highest need, where the risk of malaria illness and death among children is highest.
This allocation round makes use of the supply of vaccine doses available to Gavi, Vaccine Alliance via UNICEF. The first doses of the vaccine are expected to arrive in countries during the last quarter of 2023, with countries starting to roll them out by early 2024.
Malaria remains one of Africa’s deadliest diseases, killing nearly half a million children under the age of 5, and accounting for approximately 95% of global malaria cases and 96% of deaths in 2021.
This initiative underscores efforts to combat malaria, a significant health challenge on the African continent, Minister Kpoto said, as she provided details during a session with the House of Representatives in response to a communication from Rep. Julie Wiah, Chairperson of the Committee on Health, seeking clarification on the malaria vaccination program.
The Minister noted that the program will utilize 149 health facilities to administer the vaccines, starting from April 25 in commemoration of World Malaria Awareness Day.
She disclosed that the malaria vials were sent to the Martha Tubman Hospital on 5th March 2024 for the six pilot counties in Southeast, namely: Rivercess, Sinoe, Grand Gedeh, Grand Kru, River Gee, and Maryland Counties.The six counties have 39 statutory or political districts, targeting 36,946 children between the ages of 0-23 months old.
In the six (6) counties, 149 health facilities will be used to administer the vaccines; Sinoe, 38 health facilities; Grand Gedeh, 24 health facilities; Grand Kru, 20 health facilities; Maryland, 26 health facilities; River Gee, 20 health facilities; Rivercess, 21 health facilities.