In a move hailed by the WHO as “historic,” Cameroon on Monday launched the first-ever national malaria immunization campaign, which AFP journalists observed.
More than 600,000 people die from the mosquito-borne disease each year, mostly in Africa, according to the World Health Organization.
Over 80 percent of deaths on the continent occur in children under the age of five.
The RTS,S vaccine is being widely distributed throughout Africa, beginning in Cameroon, after a trial period.
Six-month-old Noah Ngah was the first patient at a hospital in the town of Soa, which is located 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Yaounde, the country’s capital, to get the injection.
It is one of several immunization facilities spread throughout 42 priority districts in the sizable country of over 28 million people in central Africa.
The government says that all children under six months old would routinely receive the free vaccination at the same time as other required or advised immunizations.
The announcement in November was hailed as “a historic step towards broader vaccination against one of the deadliest diseases for African children” by the WHO, UNICEF, and the Gavi vaccine alliance.