Cut-price malaria vaccine to begin Africa rollout from May

The world's biggest vaccine maker will start rolling out a cheap new malaria inoculation in Africa from May, bolstering the fight against one of the most deadly infectious diseases globally.

The mosquito-borne malady kills more than 600,000 people a year, 95 percent of them in Africa, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).The Serum Institute of India (SII) this year plans to ship 25 million doses of the new vaccine, developed along with Oxford University researchers and known as R21.

Adar Poonawalla, CEO of Serum Institute of India (SII) said "At the moment, we’re planning to supply around 25 million doses of the malaria vaccine to the African continent this year. We should start that roll out in the next four months. So we’re talking May, June."

The R21 vaccine is the second malaria shot approved by the WHO.The WHO said its rollout was expected to greatly expand supply to meet high demand from African countries.