The first immunisation campaign in Africa using a vaccine that does not have to be stored in fridges and iceboxes has been successful and substantially cut costs, according to scientists.

MenAfriVac is authorised for use at temperatures not exceeding 40C and can be kept out of the fridge for up to four days. The vaccine against meningitis A was unusual in being designed specifically for the African meningitis belt, where annual epidemics used to kill thousands, but experts say it would be feasible to allow other vaccines to be used outside of cold-chain conditions. Vaccines against yellow fever and cholera are among those that could potentially be kept and used safely at higher temperatures, enabling many more people to be reached in remote areas and the cost of immunisation campaigns to come down.

In the journal Vaccine, doctors report the success of a trial in Benin of MenAfriVac at controlled temperatures below 40C, rather than the 2C-8C that is normal for vaccines. Part of the population was given the vaccine from the normal cold chain – kept in fridges, moved around the country in refrigerated vehicles and taken into the field in cool boxes containing icepacks. The rest were given MenAfriVac that had been out of the fridge for up to four days. Neither group had a case of meningitis A, and the vaccine remained viable at temperatures as high as 39C.

MenAfriVac was developed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Path, a non-profit global health group. The vaccine is manufactured by the Serum Institute of India and it was the Indian regulatory authorities who gave approval for its use outside of cold conditions. The question is whether manufacturers of other vaccines that are also used in affluent countries, where electricity and refrigeration are not a problem, will seek similar approval.

A paper published in the WHO's Bulletin demonstrated that not having to refrigerate MenAfriVac would have cut the costs of immunisation in Chad by 50%. "The impressive coverage we saw in Benin when MenAfriVac was used outside of the cold chain paves the way for future campaigns in other regions with challenging geography, including countries where the vaccine will be administered later this year to rural populations living in the desert," said Dr Marie-Pierre Préziosi, director of the Meningitis Vaccine Project, the collaboration between WHO and Path that drove the development of MenAfriVac.

The trial targeted the rural Benin district of Banikoara, vaccinating 155,000 people across 150 villages. Only nine vaccine vials were discarded because they had been at normal temperatures for more than four days. None had to be discarded because of having been exposed to temperatures of 40C or more – a special heat-sensitive sticker changed colour as a warning if that happened.

More than 150 million people in the African meningitis belt have been vaccinated with MenAfriVac since it was launched in 2010. No case of meningitis A has been identified in those vaccinated.