Shortage of Cholera Vaccine

Various politicians are still busy promoting themselves with praise for the speed of the Covid-19 vaccine development and distribution, despite the failure to supply low-income nations with vaccines.

There is, however, silence as another health crisis arises. 

A “dire shortage” of cholera vaccines now exists in the middle of an unprecedented rise in global cases. Twenty-nine countries have reported cholera cases this year – including Haiti, Malawi and Syria, which are facing large-scale outbreaks. Lebanon has warned that a deadly cholera outbreak is “spreading rapidly”. 

Worldwide, the disease affects between 1.3 million and four million people each year, killing between 21,000 and 143,000.

Health officials believe the true number to be higher given some countries’ reluctance to be associated with the heavily stigmatised “disease of the poor”. The WHO also said it is particularly concerned about the fatality rate, which this year was almost three times the rate of the past five years.

 It has forced health officials to halve the number of doses given to people in outbreak hotspots, the World Health Organization has said. The “exceptional decision” to reduce the number of doses from two to one would allow for the vaccines to be eked out until the end of the year and given to more people in more countries. The International Coordinating Group (ICG), the body that manages emergency stocks of vaccines, had taken the decision because of the “extremely limited” supply, the WHO said in a statement, reiterating previous calls for “urgent action” to boost global vaccine production.

Mike Ryan, the executive director of the WHO’s health emergencies programme, said the decision marked “a sad day”.

“We shouldn’t have to do it,” Ryan said. “And it is purely based on the availability globally of vaccines.”

“As vaccine manufacturers are producing at their maximum current capacity, there is no short-term solution to increase production,” the WHO said. “The temporary suspension of the two-dose strategy will allow the remaining doses to be redirected for any needs for the rest of the year.”

The director general of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said, “Rationing must only be a temporary solution. In the long term, we need a plan to scale up vaccine production as part of a holistic strategy to prevent and stop cholera outbreaks.”

WHO forced to ration vaccine as cholera cases surge worldwide | Global development | The Guardian