Cameroon’s malaria vaccine highlights a misinformation pandemic

Despite promising to save the lives of millions of children across Africa, Cameroon’s new malaria vaccine has had mixed reactions online.

A medical breakthrough came this week when Cameroon announced it will be the first country to roll out a routine malaria vaccination.

The news comes after a decades-long effort to curb the mosquito-spread disease across Africa — which accounts for 95% of global malaria deaths. Of those affected, children under age 5 are most vulnerable.

Cameroon hopes to vaccinate about 250,000 children over the next two years, and will be working with other African nations to help distribute the vaccine across the continent. This will — it’s hoped — immunise more than 6 million children by 2025.

There are, on average, around 250 million cases in Africa each year, resulting in 600,000 deaths, mostly in young children.