One shot, cheap meningitis vaccine now available in Africa

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDDec 6 2010

As a boon to millions of children who die of meningitis, a cheap new vaccine for bacterial meningitis debuted today with the launching of an immunization drive in the West African country of Burkina Faso, in the first stage of an effort that could rid sub-Saharan Africa of the primary cause of meningitis, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced.

The vaccine named MenAfriVac is specially designed for Africa and is “expected to help health workers eliminate meningococcal A epidemics in the 25 countries of the meningitis belt, stretching from Senegal in the west to Ethiopia in the east,” said the WHO. The report read that these epidemics hit the region every 7 to 14 years, and there were 88,000 cases with more than 5,000 deaths in 2009. Meningitis, an infection of the lining that surrounds the brain and spinal cord, strikes more than 20 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

This vaccine costs less than 50 cents a dose, can be given to children as young as 1 year and confers longer-term protection than vaccines now in use. This vaccine was developed by a partnership between the WHO and the Seattle-based nonprofit group PATH, with support from the Gates Foundation. The vaccine is manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, the WHO said. Earlier Africa had to wait over two decades before a vaccine reached them. MenAfriVac is being introduced in Africa first.

WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan said the vaccine could save nearly 150,000 lives by 2015 and that epidemic meningitis “could become a thing of the past.” The WHO said clinical trials of the vaccine began in 2005 and have shown it to be safe and highly effective. The agency certified in June that the vaccine meets international standards. After Burkina Faso the vaccine will be introduced in Mali and Niger, two other countries hit hard by meningitis, the WHO said.

Dr. Marc Laforce, head of the Meningitis Vaccine Project said, “This is a success story and it represents the development of a product that has taken 10 years to develop and we have been so excited because we'll be introducing the new vaccine for sub-Saharan Africa.”

This vaccine would also be available in India soon. The Punes Serum Institute, which created MenAfric-Vac will apply for license to Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) shortly. At present the results from the phase-III human trials of the vaccine on 823 people (5-10 years) are being collated for submission to DCGI. Results show a 90% protection profile.

Serum Institute’s Dr Prasad Kulkarni, who conducted the vaccine trials said, “This same type of bacteria - serotype A - causes outbreaks in India. The vaccine being used in Africa is perfect for India. We will apply for marketing license to the DCGI soon. We have conducted three trials of this vaccine in India. Phase-I was done on 74 healthy adults, Phase II on 600 and Phase III on 823. The protection rate is always above 90% with minor side effects like injection site pain.” He explained, “Till date, India never had a conjugate vaccine. It only used meningococcal polysaccharide vaccines during large outbreaks to arrest the spread. However, the problem with non-conjugate vaccines are that it does not result in herd immunity, does not protect children below two years and its effects is not long lasting.”