When the health ministry expands its program to five counties in western Kenya, hundreds of youngsters under the age of five will receive vaccinations.
The “RTS,S” vaccine was initially made available in eight counties in 2019 with a high malaria burden, reducing the number of children hospitalized or passing away from the disease.
Since the vaccine’s four-year experimental program, more than 1.3 million African youngsters have gotten at least one of its four doses. At six months old, the first dose is administered, and the fourth dose is given at two years old.
In sub-Saharan Africa, the illness spread by mosquitoes claims the lives of over 400,000 people annually, the majority of them are children.
In regions with a high prevalence of malaria cases, access to the vaccine has also been increased in Ghana and Malawi.
The producer, GlaxoSmithKline, claims it can only make roughly 15 million doses annually, despite the World Health Organization’s recommendation that the vaccine be distributed throughout all of sub-Saharan Africa.