July was a big month for IMVACS…and the numbers tell the story 👇

💉 Nearly 14,700 children received the R21/Matrix-M™ booster dose during the first Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (SMC) round in Mali and Burkina Faso.

📍In Mali, field-worker training from 19th to 22nd July was immediately followed by the start of booster vaccination in the intervention arm on 23rd July. Three additional catch-up days extended the campaign until 30th July, bringing the total number of children vaccinated in this arm to approximately 9,478.

📍 In Burkina Faso, vaccinator training took place on 17th–18th July, ahead of the integrated vaccination and SMC campaign conducted from 23rd to 26th July. Of the 6,232 eligible children, teams reached 6,114 — around 98% of those scheduled to be visited—and administered 5,220 booster doses.

Beyond the numbers 🦟
IMVACS is evaluating the effectiveness and real-life impact of two different strategies for delivering the R21 malaria vaccine to children aged 5–36 months in areas with highly seasonal malaria transmission: vaccination integrated into the SMC platform and age-based vaccination delivered through routine Essential Programme on Immunisation services. By comparing these approaches, the project aims to understand how malaria vaccination can be delivered in a way that reaches more children, fits within existing health services and provides protection during the period when the risk of malaria is highest.

The July integrated booster-dose rollout may be complete, but the work continues. Follow-up, safety monitoring and data analysis are now underway—turning field experience into evidence that can help shape future malaria vaccination policies and delivery strategies across sub-Saharan Africa.