Improved meningitis vaccine for Africa

MVP, a partnership between the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Seattle-based nonprofit, PATH, is collaborating with a vaccine producer, Serum Institute of India Limited (SIIL), to produce the new vaccine against serogroup A Neisseria meningitidis (meningococcus). The preliminary results of their study, a Phase 2 vaccine trial, reveal that the vaccine could eventually slash the incidence of epidemics in the “meningitis belt,” as 21 affected nations of sub-Saharan Africa are collectively known. The vaccine is expected to block infection by the serogroup A meningococcus, and therefore extend protection to the entire population, including the unvaccinated, a phenomenon know as “herd immunity.”