Nigeria is trying to secure $1.24 billion, constituting approximately 0.4 percent of its 2024 budget, for the procurement of the R21 malaria vaccine, News About Nigeria reports.
This aims to cover an estimated 31 million children aged five and below.
According to a BusinessDay analysis, the vaccine, which was co-developed by Oxford University and the Serum Institute of India (SII), costs about $4 per child and includes a three-dose course plus a booster shot.
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) granted conditional approval for the vaccine in April 2023 because of its 71 percent efficiency rate and potential to prevent severe malaria in children.
However, the federal government faces a financial challenge as the manufacturer plans to roll out approximately 25 million doses globally by May.
Muhammad Ali Pate, Nigeria’s Coordinating Minister for Health and Social Welfare, said that there is a need for a well-thought-out plan to generate funding through public health financing for the vaccine’s introduction.
“When you introduce a new vaccine, you have to be considerate about who it is going to cover, how much will it cost, where the resource is going to come from, how much are our partners going to contribute and the fiscal space from the FG and the state,” Pate explained.
“The financing will take some time to organise including the infrastructure and the training.”
Presently, 68 percent of Nigeria’s vaccine financing is sponsored by global development partners.
Given Nigeria’s current fiscal reality, Pate said that a major meeting of key global partners is scheduled for May 3 to rethink the country’s malaria elimination strategy.
The goal is to use various tools, including vaccines, to combat the high incidence of malaria.
According to the 2018 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey, the malaria rate in children under five is about 23 percent.
Malaria remains a big threat in Africa, causing nearly half a million deaths in children under the age of 5, with Nigeria bearing the largest burden globally.
The World Health Organisation estimates annual global demand for malaria vaccines to reach 40 to 60 million doses by 2026, increasing to 80 to 100 million doses each year by 2030.
Adar Poonawalla, CEO of SII, pledged to offer the R21 vaccines to the African market at $4 or less in the first year of the rollout, with a further decrease as production scales up.
The vaccines are expected to be shipped by the end of April, with deployment scheduled to start in May and June, primarily through UNICEF and Gavi, a global vaccine alliance.
The initial recipients of the R21 doses will include Chad, Central African Republic, DR Congo, Mozambique, and South Sudan, according to a UNICEF spokesperson.
