Pioneering meningitis vaccine faces funding threat

A meningitis vaccine that costs just US50 cents a dose, and which advocates believe could eliminate epidemics of the disease in Africa, will be launched in Burkina Faso next week (6 December).

But hopes for the vaccine, which targets meningitis A, have been dampened by the lack of funding available to extend vaccination beyond Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.

Meningitis A sweeps across Africa from west to east each year, afflicting mainly children and young adults, and killed more than 4,000 people last year. The current polysaccharide vaccines are ineffective in children under two years old, and only protect for 2–3 years.

The cheap alternative, MenAfriVac, was produced by the Meningitis Vaccine Project (MVP), which began in 2001, using a pioneering route to production that bypassed the usual drug company route.

http://www.scidev.net/en/news/pioneering-meningitis-vaccine-faces-funding-thr...


THE MESSAGE: NO SELF ABSORBED RICH PERSON WILL CARE ABOUT A VACCINE IF IT DOESN'T KILL PEOPLE AND MAKE MONEY. Tweet