The lead article in MalariaWorld this week begins “An act of health justice”: Guinea’s children receive the malaria vaccine”. The article links to a posting by the Bill and Melinda Gates vaccine promoter GAVI that describes the national launch of Guinea’s malaria vaccination programme with Prime Minister Amadou Oury Bah and National Transition Council president Dansa Kourouma and Minister for the Promotion of Women, Children and Vulnerable People Charlotte Daffé. To warm applause, the Prime Minister and Kourouma each administer one of the very first doses (see picture).
The article contains the usual discussion items about the scourge of malaria – “In 2023 alone, Guinea recorded nearly 4.43 million cases of malaria, according to WHO’s 2024 World Malaria Report”. It describes the roll-out and promotion but contains no information about the safety or efficacy of the vaccines. Indeed, the article does not even say which vaccine is being administered in Guinea.
I found this information in an August 2025 posting on the GAVI website “Guinea introduces malaria vaccine into routine immunization”. This article has more details about the program. The RTS, S malaria vaccine is being administered. The recommended vaccination schedule in Guinea is 1st dose from 5 months; 2nd dose at 6 months (or a minimum of 4 weeks after the first dose); 3rd dose at 7 months (or a minimum of 4 weeks after the second dose); 4th dose at least 6 months after the third dose for children who come late.
RTS,S/AS01 (Mosquirix by GlaxoSmithKline) was first introduced in 2019 in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi. In common with the more recently introduced R21/Matrix-M (developed by Oxford University and the Serum Institute of India) it is being rolled out by GAVI in different African nations. Neither were tested against a true placebo. Both were tested for safety and efficacy against a rabies vaccine (Rabipur manufactured by GSK, Marburg, Germany and owned by Bavarian Nordic, Hellerup, Denmark was used in RTS,S study). Nonetheless, these dubious medications are being rolled out in many African nations by GAVI with the support and even participation of the governments of these countries.
Clearly, GAVI have no interest in testing vaccines against true placebos, as is now required for vaccines by US Health Secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr. I wonder why? And to describe the roll-out as ‘justice’ is at least a little disingenuous.