Since Kenya became the first country to pioneer a Malaria vaccine in 2019, over 750,000 doses have been given to children in lake-endemic counties.
At least 275,000 children have received at least one of the four scheduled doses, according to Kenya’s health ministry, while 45,000 have received the full dose.
The GSK vaccine is part of Kenya’s fight against the disease, which kills between 1 million and 1.3 million people worldwide each year. The country hopes to eradicate the scourge by 2030.
Kenya has been able to reduce the prevalence of Malaria by 50% in the last ten years, from 11% in 2010 to 6% in 2020 according to data from MoH.
Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe emphasized the need to expand the use of the malaria vaccine within the lake endemic region during a press briefing on Wednesday, ahead of the World Malaria Day commemoration on April 25.
“I am pleased to announce that the Ministry has received a positive advisory from the Kenya National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (KENITAG) to expand the use of the malaria vaccine within the lake endemic region,” CS Kagwe told the media.
“This means that more sub-counties within the lake endemic region will now be able to vaccinate children with the vaccine starting June 2022,”
According to the Ministry of Health, the vaccine clinical trials conducted in Kenya were historic and provided enough data for the WHO to recommend the vaccine for use across the continent.