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Nigeria is the first nation in the world to introduce Men5CV, a new vaccine that the World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended to prevent meningitis.
Nigeria’s achievement was hailed as historic by the World Health Organization, which stated in a statement on Friday that the vaccine would shield recipients against five different strains of meningococcus bacteria.
It stated that health professionals would launch a one million person immunization campaign.
According to the statement, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, is responsible for funding both the vaccine and the emergency vaccination efforts. Gavi is also in charge of funding the global meningitis vaccine stockpile and providing routine meningitis vaccinations to lower-income countries.
Nigeria is one of the 26 meningitis hyper-endemic countries in Africa, located in what is known as the African Meningitis Belt, according to the WHO.
It was mentioned that the number of meningitis cases reported annually in Africa increased by 50% in 2023.
“In Nigeria, an outbreak of Neisseria meningitidis (meningococcus) serogroup C outbreak, led to 1,742 suspected meningitis cases, including 101 confirmed cases and 153 deaths in seven of 36 Nigerian states, between October 2023 and March 2024.
The states are Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Jigawa, Katsina, Yobe, Zamfara.
“To quell the deadly outbreak, a vaccination campaign was undertaken on 25–28 March 2024 to initially reach more than one million people aged 1-29 years,” it said.
The statement noted that meningitis was a serious infection that leads to the inflammation of the 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, and can also result in septicaemia (blood poisoning). It can seriously disable or kill within 24 hours,” the statement added.
It quoted Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, as saying that meningitis was an old and deadly foe, adding that the new vaccine holds the potential to change the trajectory of the disease, preventing future outbreaks and saving many lives.
“Nigeria’s rollout brings us one step closer to our goal of eliminating meningitis by 2030,” Ghebreyesus said.
He claimed that the ground-breaking new vaccine provides a potent barrier against the five main meningococcal bacterial strains—A, C, W, Y, and X—in a single dose.
Meningitis and blood poisoning are caused by all five strains.
He claims that compared to the current vaccine, which is only effective against the A strain and is used in most of Africa, this offers broader protection.
According to him, the novel vaccine could greatly lower the number of cases of meningitis and further the fight against the illness.
“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,” the WHO boss said.
The statement quoted Prof. Muhammad Pate, Nigeria’s Minister of Health and Social Welfare, as saying that Northern Nigeria, particularly the states of Jigawa, Bauchi and Yobe, were badly hit by the deadly outbreak of meningitis.
“This vaccine provides health workers with a new tool to both stop this outbreak and also put the country on a path to elimination,” Pate said.
He asserts that Nigeria has made significant efforts to ready the healthcare system and medical personnel for the introduction of the new vaccine. (NAN)
