GENEVA: Facts World Health Organization and partners are recommending that countries temporarily switch to a single dose of cholera vaccine instead of two due to supply shortages during a global outbreak of waterborne diseases.
In a statement on Wednesday, the United Nations agency and partners including UNICEF and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said one dose of the vaccine has proven effective in stopping the outbreak. development “although evidence for the exact duration of protection is limited” and appears to be lower in children.
WHO and partner agencies manage a stockpile of cholera vaccines that are distributed free of charge to countries that need them.
Dr. Daniela Garoneinternational medical coordinator at Doctor Borderlessone of WHO’s partners in managing the global cholera vaccine stockpile.
“Single vaccination will provide shorter protection, but it is a reasonable and fair way to try and protect as many people as possible as we face simultaneous cholera outbreaks.” .
WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Cholera can sometimes cause death within a day, and warned that outbreaks in 29 countries this year are putting “unprecedented pressure” on the world’s limited vaccine supply. . He said authorities should aim to scale up vaccine production and that “rationing should only be a temporary solution”.
WHO says countries like Haiti, Malawi and Syria are struggling to contain large outbreaks of the disease, and climate change could make outbreaks more common, as disease-causing bacteria can reproduce faster in warmer water.
In 2010, cholera killed nearly 10,000 people in Haiti after the disease was imported there by UN peacekeepers.
The WHO said that of the 36 million doses of vaccine planned for 2022, 24 million have been shipped for vaccination campaigns. It said there is no short-term solution to increase output. A global cholera task force has estimated that the world needs about 250 million cholera vaccines by 2025, both to contain outbreaks and for preventive vaccination campaigns.
Shantha BiotechnologyAn Indian subsidiary of French pharmaceutical company Sanofi, has previously announced that it will stop producing cholera vaccines by the end of the year, leaving the world with just one producer of an easy-to-produce oral vaccine. : Korean company EuBiologics.
Doctor Michael RyanWHO’s emergencies director, said it was impossible to estimate when countries could return to two doses of cholera vaccine.
“It reflects the scale of the crisis,” Ryan said, criticizing rich countries for not doing more to help boost manufacturing.
“It’s a sad day for us to go back to a one-pill-and-life-saving strategy,” he said. “But if cholera is spreading in industrial and rich countries right now, the cost of production will be offset.”
In a statement on Wednesday, the United Nations agency and partners including UNICEF and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said one dose of the vaccine has proven effective in stopping the outbreak. development “although evidence for the exact duration of protection is limited” and appears to be lower in children.
WHO and partner agencies manage a stockpile of cholera vaccines that are distributed free of charge to countries that need them.
Dr. Daniela Garoneinternational medical coordinator at Doctor Borderlessone of WHO’s partners in managing the global cholera vaccine stockpile.
“Single vaccination will provide shorter protection, but it is a reasonable and fair way to try and protect as many people as possible as we face simultaneous cholera outbreaks.” .
WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Cholera can sometimes cause death within a day, and warned that outbreaks in 29 countries this year are putting “unprecedented pressure” on the world’s limited vaccine supply. . He said authorities should aim to scale up vaccine production and that “rationing should only be a temporary solution”.
WHO says countries like Haiti, Malawi and Syria are struggling to contain large outbreaks of the disease, and climate change could make outbreaks more common, as disease-causing bacteria can reproduce faster in warmer water.
In 2010, cholera killed nearly 10,000 people in Haiti after the disease was imported there by UN peacekeepers.
The WHO said that of the 36 million doses of vaccine planned for 2022, 24 million have been shipped for vaccination campaigns. It said there is no short-term solution to increase output. A global cholera task force has estimated that the world needs about 250 million cholera vaccines by 2025, both to contain outbreaks and for preventive vaccination campaigns.
Shantha BiotechnologyAn Indian subsidiary of French pharmaceutical company Sanofi, has previously announced that it will stop producing cholera vaccines by the end of the year, leaving the world with just one producer of an easy-to-produce oral vaccine. : Korean company EuBiologics.
Doctor Michael RyanWHO’s emergencies director, said it was impossible to estimate when countries could return to two doses of cholera vaccine.
“It reflects the scale of the crisis,” Ryan said, criticizing rich countries for not doing more to help boost manufacturing.
“It’s a sad day for us to go back to a one-pill-and-life-saving strategy,” he said. “But if cholera is spreading in industrial and rich countries right now, the cost of production will be offset.”
