Shortage of cholera vaccine leads to suspension of two-dose vaccination

Amarachi Okeh

The World Health Organisation says it has temporarily adopted a one-dose cholera vaccination due to the shortage of vaccines in countries affected by outbreaks of cholera.

The WHO disclosed this in a press statement released on Wednesday noting that “a strained global supply of cholera vaccines has obliged the International Coordinating Group — the body which manages emergency supplies of vaccines — to temporarily suspend the standard two-dose vaccination regimen in cholera outbreak response campaigns, using instead a single-dose approach.”

This change in strategy, the global health agency said, will allow for the limited doses available to be used in more countries, at a time of the unprecedented rise in cholera outbreaks worldwide.

Since January this year, 29 countries have reported large outbreaks of the viral infection which, the agency said, contrasts with reports from the last five years when fewer than 20 countries reported any outbreaks.

This trend, WHO said, has been attributed to more numerous, more widespread, and more severe outbreaks, due to floods, droughts, conflict, population movements, and other factors that limit access to clean water and raise the risk of cholera outbreaks.

The WHO, however, assured that the one-dose strategy has proven to be effective to respond to outbreaks, “even though evidence on the exact duration of protection is limited, and protection appears to be much lower in children. 

“With a two-dose regimen, when the second dose is administered within 6 months of the first, immunity against infection lasts for 3 years.

“The benefit of supplying one dose still outweighs no doses: although the temporary interruption of the two-dose strategy will lead to a reduction and shortening of immunity, this decision will allow more people to be vaccinated and provide them protection in the near term, should the global cholera situation continue deteriorating,“ WHO said.

According to WHO, “of the total 36 million doses forecast to be produced in 2022, 24 million have already been shipped for preventive (17 per cent) and reactive (83 per cent) campaigns, and an additional 8 million doses were approved by the ICG for the second round for emergency vaccination in 4 countries, illustrating the dire shortage of the vaccine.

“As vaccine manufacturers are producing at their maximum current capacity, there is no short-term solution to increase production. 

“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.

“This is a short-term solution but to ease the problem in the longer term, urgent action is needed to increase global vaccine production,” WHO said. 

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