The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control has approved the R21 malaria vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India.

The Director General of NAFDAC, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, who disclosed this said the vaccine is indicated for the prevention of clinical malaria in children from 5 months to 36 months of age.

Prof Adeyeye said the country expects to get at least 100,000 doses of the vaccine in donations soon before the market authorization, making Nigeria the second country to approve the new malaria vaccine developed at the University of Oxford, after Ghana.