Cameroon Counts Successes, Challenges of Historic Malaria Vaccine Rollout

A year after introducing the world’s first malaria vaccine into its vaccination program, Cameroon says it has achieved progress amid a cocktail of challenges.

A nurse administers a malaria vaccine to an infant at the health center in Datcheka, Cameroon, on Jan. 22, 2024. Desire Danga Essigue/Reuters

YAOUNDE, Cameroon—Honorine Asogue, 34, said she got a welcome surprise when she went to the Soa District Hospital on the outskirts of Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde, on Jan. 13.

Her early morning visit to the health facility was to get a Vitamin A-supplemented vaccine for her 6-month-old daughter, Miracle Chefor, but she was also informed that Miracle had just reached the eligible age for the world’s first malaria vaccine.