Kenya is the third African country to introduce malaria vaccine

An article published by CGTN Africa claiming that Kenya has become the third African nation to introduce a new malaria vaccine and finds it to be TRUE.

The article further adds that the vaccine that is being administered through routine immunization, and that it targets children aged two years and below.

The vaccine, known as RTS,S, is the first vaccine to protect children against malaria infections, and will be given to young children from the ages of six months in a phased pilot introduction program in Homa Bay, Siaya, Migori, Kisumu, Busia, Vihiga, Bungoma and Kakamega counties.

The eight counties are considered are considered to have the highest malaria transmission rates in the country.

The phased introduction of the malaria vaccine took place on September 13 in Ndhiwa in Homa Bay county, and was presided over by Health Cabinet Secretary Cecily Kariuki. The Ministry of Health tweeted that Kenya is the third African country to launch the malaria vaccine after Malawi and Ghana.

Malaria kills over 400,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa annually with the majority of these people being young children. In 2016, malaria caused around 3.5 million infections that resulted in over 10,000 deaths.

According to a 2017 World Health Organization report, children below the age of five are the most vulnerable to malaria, accounting for 61 percent (266,000) of deaths due to the disease worldwide. The 2015 Malaria Indicator Survey by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics reveals that the risk of malaria infection is high in areas around Lake Victoria and the Coast, with children under the age of five and pregnant women being the most vulnerable.

The RTSS malaria vaccine is the first vaccine that has proved to provide partial protection against malaria on young children. It is the first malaria vaccine in the country to be provided to children through the national immunization program.

An efficiency and safety trial for the new malaria vaccine was conducted between 2009 to 2014 in seven African countries including Kenya,Burkina Faso, Gabon, Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania.

The efficacy of the vaccine was established in a Phase 3 clinical trial that ended in 2014. The injectable vaccine has been on trial for several years after its development in 1987.

PesaCheck has looked into the claim that Kenya has rolled out a new malaria vaccine project targeting children between 6 to 24 months and finds it to be TRUE.

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This fact-check was written by PesaCheck Researcher James Okong’o, was edited by PesaCheck Deputy Editor Ann Ngengere and was approved for publication by PesaCheck Managing Editor Eric Mugendi.