Meningitis Vaccine Project

In June 2010 various sources announced that they had developed MenAfriVac, which is an inexpensive, safe, and highly effective vaccine that is likely to stop the epidemic as quickly as anyone had ever hoped that it would.

The project marked the first time that medical research had developed a vaccine to combat a disease that is endemic to and only a problem for Africa.

[1] The mission of the Project is to eliminate meningitis as a public health problem in sub-Saharan Africa through the development, testing, introduction, and widespread use of conjugate meningococcal vaccines.

[2] The Project recently developed MenAfriVac, a low-cost conjugate A vaccine that is ready for widespread distribution to people between the ages of 1 and 29 in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger,[3] three countries in the African meningitis belt with the highest rates of meningitis.

[5] Unlike existing vaccines, MenAfriVac also provides immunity for a long period—10 to 15 years—and is safe for use in infants one year of age and older.