In a historic move, Nigeria has become the first country in the world to roll out a new vaccine (called Men5CV) recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), which protects people against five strains of the meningococcus bacteria.
Nigeria being one of the 26 meningitis hyper-endemic countries of Africa, situated in the area known as the African Meningitis Belt, recalled last year, there was a 50% jump in annual meningitis cases reported across Africa, according to WHO on its website on Friday.
Revealed that in Nigeria, an outbreak of Neisseria meningitidis (meningococcus) serogroup C led to 1742 suspected cases, including 101 confirmed cases, 153 deaths in seven of 36 Nigerian states (Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Jigawa, Katsina, Yobe, Zamfara) between 1 October 2023 and 11 March 2024.
It was added that the vaccine and emergency vaccination activities are funded by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which funds the global meningitis vaccine stockpile, and supports lower-income countries with routine vaccination against meningitis.
WHO said meningitis is a serious infection that leads to the inflammation of membranes (meninges) that surround and protect the brain and spinal cord. “There are multiple causes of meningitis, including viral, bacterial, fungal.
“And parasitic pathogens. Symptoms often include headache, fever and stiff neck. Bacterial meningitis is the most serious, can also result in septicaemia (blood poisoning), and can seriously disable or kill within 24 hours those that contract it.
WHO Director-General, Dr Tedro Ghebreyesus in his reaction said, “Nigeria’s rollout brings us one step closer to our goal to eliminate meningitis by 2030.” Adding that meningitis is an old and deadly foe, but this new vaccine holds the potential to change the trajectory of the disease, preventing future outbreaks and saving many lives.
Nigerian Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Mohammad Ali Pate also said the northern Nigeria, particularly the states of Jigawa, Bauchi and Yobe were badly hit by the deadly outbreak of meningitis, and this vaccine provides health workers with a new tool to both stop this outbreak but also put the country on a path to elimination.
He stated that government have done a lot of work preparing health workers and health system for the rollout of this new vaccine, according to him, “We got an invaluable support from our populations despite this fasting period.
“And from our community leaders especially Emir of Gumel in Jigawa who personally launched the vaccination campaign in the state. We’ll be monitoring progress closely and hopefully expanding the immunization in the coming months and years to accelerate progress”, he said.
WHO explained that the revolutionary new vaccine offers a powerful shield against the five major strains of the meningococcal bacteria (A, C, W, Y and X) in single shot. Five strains cause meningitis, blood poisoning.
It added that the new vaccine provides broader protection than the current vaccine used in much of Africa, which is only effective against the A strain and also has potential to significantly reduce meningitis cases and advance progress in defeating meningitis.
“This is especially important for countries like Nigeria where multiple serogroups are prevalent. The new vaccine uses the same technology as the meningitis A conjugate vaccine (MenAfriVac®), which wiped out meningococcal A epidemics in Nigeria.
It was disclosed that this new multivalent conjugate vaccine was 13 years in the making and was based on a partnership between PATH and the Serum Institute of India. “Financing from the UK government’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office was critical to its development”.
“In July 2023, WHO prequalified the new Men5CV vaccine (which has brand name MenFive®) and in October 2023 issued an official recommendation to countries to introduce the new vaccine.
“Gavi allocated resources for the Men5CV rollout in December 2023, which is currently available for outbreak response through the emergency stockpile managed by the International Coordinating Group (ICG) on Vaccine Provision, while roll-out through mass preventive campaigns is expected to start in 2025 across countries of the Meningitis Belt.
Following Nigeria’s meningitis vaccine campaign, a major milestone on the road to defeat meningitis is the international summit on meningitis taking place in Paris in April 2024 where leaders will come together to celebrate progress, identify challenges and assess next steps.
“It is also an opportunity for country leaders and key partners to commit politically and financially to accelerate progress towards eliminating meningitis as a public health problem by 2030,” this according to World Health Organization.