NAFDAC Okays Malaria Vaccine For Nigerian Children

The Federal government of Nigeria has granted provisional approval for the Malaria Vaccine, R21/Matrix developed by scientists at Oxford University.

Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration And Control (NAFDAC), Mojisola Adeyeye, said at a press briefing that the vaccine is for prevention of clinical malaria in children from 5 months to 36 months of age”,

The DG said the agency received the dossier of the vaccine and subjected it to independent review by experts from Nigeria’s tertiary institutions and the agency’s in-house vaccine review committee.

Experts have commended the newly developed malaria vaccine (R21/Matrix-M), which is the first to achieve more than 75% effectiveness, the goal set by the World Health Organisation.

This development comes few days after Ghana became the first country to approve the malaria vaccine that has been described as a “world-changer” by the scientists who developed it.