Nigeria has become the first country to receive the new MenFive meningitis vaccine
This was revealed in a statement by Gavi on Thursday.
The vaccine doses will be used to respond to an ongoing meningococcus C outbreak, targeting to vaccinate around a million children in six local government areas in Jigawa state where there has been more cases.
MenFive vaccine, was developed through a 13-year collaboration between PATH and Serum Institute of India and received WHO prequalification in July 2023.
Meningitis follows a seasonal pattern, mostly common during the dry season December through June with a peak between March and April when there is persistent low air humidity and high dust loads that are believed to damage the pharyngeal mucosa and ease the colonization of the nasopharyngeal epithelium by the meningococci.
This vaccine protects against the five main serogroups of meningococcal meningitis impacting Africa.
The African meningitis belt stretches from Senegal in the west to Ethiopia in the east in 26 countries, including the northern part of Nigeria.
