Mothers of five month old babies in Phalombe have welcomed the malaria vaccine as they are taking their children to hospitals to receive the vaccine.
Phalombe District Health Office (DHO) spokesperson, Daniel Chilomo, said currently the vaccine is being provided in five health facilities in the district namely Migowi, Mpasa, Mulomba, Phalombe and Holy Family Mission Hospital. 
Chilomo said since the exercise was launched on the 23rd day of this month mothers have been bringing their babies to the said facilities without hesitation for the immunisation.
“The exercise has started very well here in Phalombe. We have seen that people have welcomed the vaccine as many mothers are bringing their children so that they should be immunised with the vaccine.
“We are targeting to immunise about 380 babies after 30 days from the day we started the exercise,” he said in an interview with Malawi24 on Monday.
He concluded by asking mothers whose babies were born from first November last year and are yet to be vaccinated that they should take them to their nearest facility in the named facilities to get the vaccine.
“I am asking those mothers out there whose their babies have not received the vaccine but were born from first day of the month of November in 2018 that they should bring their children so that they should be immunised with the vaccine,” concluded Chilomo.
Children are expected to receive the vaccine in four stages which are at five, six, seven and 22 months old.
Phalombe is among 11 districts selected across Malawi which are piloting the vaccine aimed at partially protecting children from Malaria which infects one third of the total Malawi population each year, according to the Ministry of Health.
Apart from Malawi, the vaccine – which is also called RTS,S – is also being given to children in other two African countries namely; Kenya and Ghana.
