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The World Health Organization (WHO) will temporarily replace the standard two-dose cholera vaccination with a single-dose, stated the global health body October 19, 2022.
This comes nearly two weeks after the WHO warned of a worrying surge in cholera cases, with 29 countries reporting outbreaks this year. The global supply of cholera vaccines has become strained. The current supply of the vaccine is ‘extremely limited’.
The International Coordinating Group (ICG) — the WHO’s body which manages emergency supplies of vaccines — has been forced to suspend the two-dose vaccination regime in the aftermath of the outbreak in countries like Kenya and Lebanon.
Some 24 million doses of the total 36 million have already been shipped for preventive (17 per cent) and reactive (83 per cent) campaigns. The ICG approved an additional eight million doses for the second round of emergency vaccination in four countries — illustrating the dire shortage of the vaccine.
The single-dose strategy will allow the vaccine doses to be used in more countries in this unprecedented rise in cholera outbreaks worldwide. This will enable more people to be vaccinated against the disease even though it compromises the immunity.
This near-term protection by a single-dose still outweighed a no-dose scenario. The one-dose strategy has proven effective in responding to outbreaks, even though evidence on the exact duration of protection is limited, the WHO stated. The protection appears to be much lower in children.
Immunity lasts for three years in a two-dose regimen if the second dose is administrated within six months of the first.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said 29 countries had reported outbreaks this year. This includes 13 countries that did not have outbreaks last year.
The WHO added that floods, droughts, conflicts and population movements and limited access to clean water across the globe had triggered the outbreaks.
It further noted that there was no short-term solution to increase the production of the vaccines. So, this temporary suspension of double-dose will allow the remaining doses to be redirected for any needs in the coming months.
The ICG will continue to monitor the global epidemiological trends and the status of the cholera vaccine stockpile and will review this decision regularly.
Kenya registered 60 cases of cholera in six regions in the country as on October 20. The capital Nairobi (17 cases), was hit by the outbreak, with the hospitalisation of 13 people, the health ministry of Kenya announced.
Lebanon recorded its first cholera death October 12, with 26 infections in October. Health Minister of Lebanon, Firas Abiad, blamed the lack of basic services, like safe water and sewerage networks as a cause of the spread.
SANA news agency reported that Syria had recorded 41 deaths and more than 700 cases of cholera in the country so far.
The health ministry of Haiti reported 835 suspected cases, 78 confirmed cases and at least 36 deaths in the country by October 6.