WHO have announced meningitis vaccine will reach the 100 millionth
person this week in a region of Africa that has been plagued by deadly
epidemics for more than a century. The milestone will take place in
northern Nigeria, part of Africa’s ‘meningitis belt’, where the country
is conducting its second seasonal immunization campaign against the
disease.
The historic achievement comes two years after the MenAfriVac® vaccine was first launched in Burkina Faso. Since then, nine other countries have held vaccination campaigns to protect people from ages 1 to 29 against meningitis A. Nigeria will vaccinate 16 million people over the next two weeks and Cameroon and Chad are also conducting immunization campaigns this week targeting 5.5 million and 2.3 million people respectively. By the end of this year, the vaccine will have reached more than 112 million people, providing widespread and long-awaited protection.
Source: WHO
The historic achievement comes two years after the MenAfriVac® vaccine was first launched in Burkina Faso. Since then, nine other countries have held vaccination campaigns to protect people from ages 1 to 29 against meningitis A. Nigeria will vaccinate 16 million people over the next two weeks and Cameroon and Chad are also conducting immunization campaigns this week targeting 5.5 million and 2.3 million people respectively. By the end of this year, the vaccine will have reached more than 112 million people, providing widespread and long-awaited protection.
Source: WHO
