NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Africa’s public health agency said Thursday that countries with deadly cholera outbreaks on the continent do not have “immediate access” to vaccines due to a global shortage of supplies.
The acting director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Ahmed Ogwell, told reporters that the agency is working with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the GAVI vaccine alliance to obtain more doses.
The African body is also working with two local manufacturers to explore whether their facilities can be repurposed to make cholera vaccines, Ogwell added. He did not specify which ones.
In October, the WHO and partners recommended that countries temporarily apply just one dose of cholera vaccine instead of two due to tight supplies as outbreaks of the waterborne disease increased around the world. . They said one dose of the vaccine has been shown to be effective in stopping outbreaks, “although the evidence on the exact duration of protection is limited” and appears to be less in children.
The WHO noted that Haiti and Syria are also trying to contain large outbreaks. The UN agency and partner agencies manage a stock of cholera vaccines that are distributed free of charge to countries that need them.
Malawi, in southern Africa, is especially battling a cholera outbreak. The country has registered 3,577 new cases, including 111 deaths in the past week, Ogwell said. They make up the majority of new cholera cases on the continent.
Since the beginning of 2023, there have been 27,300 new cholera cases, including 687 deaths in five African countries, Ogwell said.
The WHO has said that climate change could make cholera epidemics more common, as the bacteria that cause the disease can reproduce more quickly in warmer waters.
