UNICEF, Uganda launches world’s biggest malaria vaccine rollout
… The vaccine is targeting the most vulnerable infants from 6 months to one and half years and is administered in four jabs. It works by curtailing the parasites’ access to the liver where they multiply to attack the red blood cells. The vaccination in Uganda will start early April in 105 districts, the most affected of the 146 that make up the country. The exercise will kick off on April 2nd in Apac, northern Uganda which has been locally described as the district with the “biggest number of mosquito bites in the world”. For Uganda, which is one of the three most affected African countries alongside Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the vaccine rollout is going to be a game changer because of the unacceptably high mortality malaria visits on the population. The government and UNICEF have emphasized that the malaria vaccine is absolutely free of charge and urged parents and caregivers to take it as a key component of the essential child immunization practice.
[Cross-posted with thanks to Megan Whiteman / Public Citizen, WB]