Revolutionary Vaccine Against All Types of Meningitis

Nigeria has become the world’s first country to roll out a brand-new vaccine designed to protect against all five strains of the meningococcus bacteria, a possible game-changer for the global fight against the deadly disease.

“Meningitis is an old and deadly foe, but this new vaccine holds the potential to change the trajectory of the disease, preventing future outbreaks and saving many lives,” explains Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “Nigeria’s rollout brings us one step closer to our goal to eliminate meningitis by 2030.”

As one of the 26 meningitis hyper-endemic countries in the African Meningitis Belt, Nigeria experienced a Neisseria meningitidis serogroup C outbreak between October 2023 and March 2024. To quell it, the country launched a vaccination campaign to reach more than one million people aged 1 to 29. The new vaccine Men5CV shields against the five major strains of the meningococcal bacteria – A, C, W, Y, and X – in a single shot, providing more protection than the current vaccine, which only protects against the A strain. The Men5CV vaccine – whose brand name is MenFive® – uses the same technology as meningitis A conjugate vaccine MenAfriVac®. The global roadmap to defeating meningitis by 2030 has three goals: eliminating bacterial meningitis epidemics, reducing the number of cases of vaccine-preventable bacterial meningitis by 50% and deaths by 70%, and reducing instances of disability and improving post-meningitis quality of life.