In June 2011, the World Health Organization prequalified the Meningitis A vaccine, MenAfriVac, rendering it purchasable on the open market by a UN Agency. The usually slow process whereby UNICEF tenders bidding at this stage was speeded through with funding from the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, so the vaccine was on hand relatively quickly after WHO’s prequalification.
The preliminary rollout of the vaccine in December 2010 was met with wide acceptance in the three regions targeted- Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger- with people showing up in droves and over 100% turnout with outside auditing. These data were presented to the GACVS Committee in September 2010, who approved the vaccine.
Burkina Faso elected to immunize its entire country, aged 1-29, in the 10 days of the campaign starting December 6, 2010. Some 11.5 million Burkinabè were immunized, fully 70% of the country. The launch date was decided as December 6, after the 50th anniversary celebrations and re-election of the President of Burkina Faso. Mali and Niger started their smaller campaigns a week after Burkina Faso, deciding to stage their introduction over 2 years. Still, 3-4 million were immunized in Mali and 3 million in Niger.
The timing of the vaccination campaign couldn’t have been better. The Meningitis epidemic season began the 1st week of January. No Men A cases were reported during the season. WHO and CDC Carriage studies showed herd immunity in unvaccinated neighbouring communities for Mali and Niger’s partial rollout. There was no place left to hide for the bacteria in Burkina Faso. From a public health standpoint the Men A vaccine was a huge success.
Still, another couple of seasons of careful observation are needed to tell the whole story.
Graham has been following the development of the Meningitis A vaccine since 2006, when she observed the WHO biological standardization meetings in Geneva, later following the activities at the WHO Meningitis Vaccine Project headquarters in Ferney-Voltaire, France as researchers coordinated the vaccine trials and planned for regulatory approval and the vaccine implementation, and in Burkina Faso as capacity was built for the epidemiological and microbiological surveillance. Assisted by various CIHR workshop grants, colleagues from across Canada and Burkina Faso have gathered in both countries to discuss research projects. As part of the Articulating Standards project- funded by CIHR- we will be taking a closer look at on-the-ground realities, attitudes and beliefs about the Men A vaccine campaign, and the implications this has on the future uptake of this vaccine in the region.
Related Activities Here @ TRRU:
Articulating Standards Case 2: Global Vaccine Safety Standards
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