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The vaccination schedule targets young children, with the first dose administered at five months. One of the first areas where the program is being rolled out is the southern state of Bayelsa, which has one of the country’s highest malaria rates.
Nigeria has begun implementing a malaria vaccination program to ease the world’s highest burden of the mosquito-borne disease which killed some 200,000 people last year.
The vaccination schedule targets young children, with the first dose administered at five months. One of the first areas where the program is being rolled out is the southern state of Bayelsa, which has one of the country’s highest malaria rates.
Infants, children under five years, pregnant women and girls, travellers, and people with HIV or AIDS are at higher risk of severe infection. Bayelsa State Commissioner for Health, Professor Seiyefa Brisibe, said malaria infection rates are high in the region. It accounts for about 30% of deaths in children under five and it also accounts for a good number of reasons why adults, both mothers and fathers, stay out of a job.
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The commissioner said that despite the success recorded in Bayelsa so far, his administration still has to deal with misconceptions and misinformation regarding vaccines, including that they cause infertility.
