Nigeria has become the second country to approve use of a malaria vaccine developed at Oxford University that is considered to be highly effective against the disease.
It has been provisionally approved for use on children between 5 and 36 months although an additional trial will be carried out locally to confirm its safety, the Nigerian Food and Drug agency said.
The R21 vaccine is administered through an intramuscular injection. Ghana became the first country to approve use of the vaccine last week, in what is regarded as a huge step in fighting the disease that kills hundreds of thousands annually, majority of them in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Nigeria has the highest number of malaria death rates globally with prevalence amongst children, according to the 2021 World Malaria report.
The approval of use of the vaccine in the country has been communicated to the health minister for “appropriate actions toward immunization in the respective population”, the drug agency said.
The vaccines is being manufactured by Indian biotechnology giant Serum Institute of India which is reported to be prepared to produce 200 million doses annually.
