A few days ago, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended that children be given a second vaccine against malaria, a disease that kills hundreds of thousands of people every year.

"I am very pleased to announce that the WHO is recommending a second vaccine called R21/Matrix-M to prevent malaria in children at risk of contracting the disease," he said, quoted by the international press.

The WHO also presented new recommendations for vaccines against dengue and meningitis, as well as a simplification of the recommendations for anti-Covid immunization.

Reacting to the announcement, the director general of the Manhiça Health Research Center (CISM), Francisco Saúte, said that the second malaria vaccine is an important milestone for global health, especially for endemic countries like Mozambique.

"This is yet another tool aimed at a specific group, namely children," said the source quoted by ′Noticias′.

R21/Matrix-M is manufactured by the Serum Institute of India and its use has already been authorized in Ghana, Nigeria and Burkina Faso. In 2021, another vaccine, RTS S, produced by British pharmaceutical company GSK, became the first recommended by the WHO to prevent malaria in children in areas with moderate to high transmission.

Tedros Adhamon Ghebreyesus stressed that "demand for the RTS, S vaccine far exceeds supply". R21/Matrix-M is, for him, "an essential additional tool to protect more children and more quickly", in order to "bring us closer to our vision of a malaria-free future".