WHO Approves MenAfriVac Vaccine For Use In Infants; Meningitis Vaccine Project Shutting Down After Vaccine’s Success In Africa

Reuters: Tailor-made vaccine set to banish Africa’s meningitis epidemics
“…Barely five years after the team began rolling out a tailor-made vaccine in Africa’s ‘meningitis belt,’ the disease has all but disappeared there and the Meningitis Vaccine Project (MVP) is closing down after pioneering what may be a model for tackling infectious diseases in developing countries. … On Friday, the World Health Organization (WHO) authorized MenAfriVac for use in routine child immunizations in Africa, establishing it as part of everyday health care and bringing an end into sight for a disease that has plagued Africa for more than a century…” (Kelland, 1/9).

VOA News: WHO Approves Infant Meningitis Vaccine
“The World Health Organization has approved the use of a meningitis vaccine for infants in sub-Saharan Africa. The vaccine has been given to older children and young adults for the past four years. … The MenAfriVac vaccine costs less than a dollar per dose. [Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance,] is picking half the cost in the first year of mass immunizations with individual countries paying the rest…” (DeCapua, 1/9).

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