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On Thursday, Nigeria announced the regulatory approval and launch of the new R21/Matrix-M™ malaria vaccine that will be freely administered to recipients. This marks a significant milestone in the country’s fight against the deadly disease.

A health worker administering a vaccine to a child in Africa

Malaria is a mosquito-borne disease that kills more than 600,000 people each year, with a large proportion being African babies and children. Nigeria is the world's worst-affected country with 31% of global deaths from malaria, according to a 2023 World Health Organization (WHO) report.R21/Matrix-M™ was co-developed by the Jenner Institute and Serum Institute of India (SII), leveraging Novavax’s Matrix-M™ adjuvant technology. Nigeria is one of the first countries in the world to back the new R21 vaccine, which was provisionally approved by Nigeria's medicines regulator in April last year.

In December 2023, the WHO granted R21/Matrix-M™ prequalification status, following a rigorous regulatory process and clinical assessment. Trials also demonstrated that the vaccine was well tolerated, with a good safety profile, with injection site pain and fever as the most frequent adverse events.

In anticipation of the roll-out, the Serum Institute of India has manufactured 25 million doses of the vaccine and is committed to scaling up to 100 million doses annually. In keeping with its aim of delivering vaccines at scale and low cost, SII is offering the vaccine at less than $4 per dose. SII’s production capability means this highly effective and affordable, low-dose malaria vaccine can be manufactured at speed and scale, critical to stemming the spread of disease, as well as protecting the vaccinated.

Nigeria has received 846,200 doses of R21, procured in partnership with global vaccine group Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and UNICEF. Additionally, 153,800 more doses are expected on the 26th October to make it a million.

Professor Adrian Hill, Lakshmi Mittal & Family Professor of Vaccinology and Director of the Jenner Institute, said: ‘It is excellent to see the high efficacy R21 malaria vaccine being provided at scale to Nigeria, the country where it is likely to make the greatest impact based on population size and need.’

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