WHO approves new vaccine to fight Meningitis in Africa

The World Health Organization has approved an effective and affordable vaccine for meningitis called MenAfriVac to be injected on vulnerable children.
This was contained in statement issued by the UN Health Agency on Saturday in Nairobi, Kenya.
It said the routine immunization on infants in the meningitis hotspots across Sub- Saharan Africa would commence to reduce fatalities associated with the disease.
“The introduction of meningitis vaccine has dealt the epidemic a fatal blow.
“Nonetheless, there is need for political commitment in meningitis belt countries in Africa to contain the disease,” it quoted Jean Marie Okeo-Bele, WHO Director of the Department of Immunization, Vaccines and Biological, to have said.
Okeo-Bele said WHO had partnered with global health nonprofit-PATH and Serum Institute of India Limited to form the Meningitis Vaccine Project.
She added that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation bankrolled the research and development of the Meningitis vaccine.
She added that during clinical trials in several African countries, MenAfriVac reduced new meningitis infections and deaths among infants.
Dr. Marie-Pierre Preziosi, the Director of MVP, said health officials would be able to ensure that population wide protection was sustained by routinely immunizing infants.
Preziosi said: “The new meningitis vaccine meets the international standards on quality, safety and efficacy.
“Experts said it can be administered to one year old infants in meningitis hotspots.”
Also, Kathy Neuzil, the Director of Vaccine Access and delivery, said With MenAfriVac, a revolutionary new model for vaccine development had been created.
Neuzil said: “Now we stand on the brink of protecting an entire generation from a devastating disease.
“Innovative public private partnership and political commitment fast-tracked the development of a meningitis vaccine for African infants.”
According to her, experts hailed the role of vaccines in tackling contagious diseases that kill and maim a large population in sub-Saharan Africa.