Nigeria Slowly Rolls Out Malaria Vaccine

Health workers across rural southern Nigeria are curbing child malaria deaths through a four-dose vaccination campaign, even as nationwide deployment lags.

Since the world’s first malaria vaccines arrived in Africa’s most populous nation in late 2024, a year when the mosquito-borne disease killed nearly 200,000 Nigerians and 600,000 people globally, medical teams have administered 1.8 million doses and fully immunised nearly 250,000 children.

In the forested town of Oruma in Bayelsa State, clinic staff deliver the four-part regimen across a baby’s first 15 months of life to shield children under five, who account for over 75 per cent of African malaria deaths.

While PATH official Hadiza Hussayn Jibril noted that the vaccine does not offer complete immunity, the nonprofit organisation reports an 18 per cent drop in active malaria infections among Bayelsa’s young children despite years of lagging bed-net and drug distributions.

“It makes me feel happy,” 24-year-old hairdresser Ezibanyenami Paul said after her infant daughter received her final dose, adding that the vaccine has kept her baby entirely malaria-free and spared the family from spending 5,000 naira ($3.75) on costly treatments.

Halted Fatal Cases in Communities

Local health officials say the campaign has dramatically halted fatal cases in communities that once saw frequent seizures and deaths.

Before the rollout, “it was hectic,” recalled Elizabeth Ogisi, primary health care director for the Ogbia local government area. “A child died. What happened? He was convulsing.”

Since vaccinations began, however, Ogisi confirmed that clinics “have not recorded anything like the death of a child.”

Mother Zuweira Nasiru, 39, echoed that impact, noting her two-year-old son Abdulrauf—the only one of her seven children to receive the shots—has experienced only mild illness.

Despite local successes, health workers deploy the jabs in just four of Nigeria’s 36 states, leaving most of the country’s 240 million residents and 68.5 million annual cases unreached.

Navigating roadless Niger Delta creeks guarded by armed pipeline security, immunisation teams rely on boats and conduct home visits when parents cannot afford clinic travel.

“The oil wealth you see in a state like Bayelsa does not automatically translate into functioning primary health care,” said Muhammed Afolabi of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, citing decades of corruption and underinvestment.

At a recent appreciation ceremony in Yenagoa, organisers thanked frontline staff with practical gifts—rubber boots, raincoats, and umbrellas—to keep them trekking through the tropical terrain.