Hundreds of children under five will be immunized in western Kenya as the health ministry expands its program to five counties.
The “RTS, S” vaccine was first introduced in 2019 in eight malaria-endemic countries, helping to reduce the number of children hospitalized or dying from malaria.
Since the vaccine’s pilot program began four years ago, more than 1.3 million African children have received at least one of the four doses. The first dose is administered at the age of six months, and the fourth dose is administered at the age of two years.
“RTS, S” is the only malaria vaccine that has been approved. It took scientists more than 30 years to develop, and it works in roughly 30% of cases.
Each year, mosquito-borne diseases kill over 400,000 people, most of whom are children in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Ghana and Malawi have also increased access to the vaccine in areas with a high malaria prevalence.
The World Health Organization recommends that the vaccine be distributed throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, but the manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline, claims that it can only produce about 15 million doses per year.
