About the episode
There are problems with the supply of cholera vaccines. And this at a time when the disease is again in the news: a suspicious outbreak on a cruise ship, a major outbreak in southern Africa.
There are currently outbreaks of the infectious disease in 15 countries, with more than 40,000 cases and almost 800 deaths recorded in the past month of January alone.
Cholera, caused by the Vibrio Cholerae bacteria, leads to very severe diarrhea. Losing a liter of fluid per hour is normal. Left untreated, cholera leads to death within a day. But now the vaccine has run out, certainly until mid-March, says the World Health Organization.
This shortage is not due to the new outbreaks, but because we as a global community are dependent on only one supplier: EUbiologics in South Korea. And the production capacity has now run out.
There is no simple solution to this problem, UNICEF and Doctors Without Borders also acknowledge, although two new manufacturers will also make the anti-cholera vaccine: a South African company and a drug manufacturer from India.
The international vaccination institute, the IVI, believes that the shortage will decrease during 2024 and will virtually disappear by 2025.
The recent outbreaks, combined with the vaccine shortage, have raised concerns at the WHO and Doctors Without Borders, but climate experts warn of new problems. Extreme weather in Pakistan, Malawi and Mozambique has largely destroyed the sewage system in those countries. And broken sewers eventually lead to cholera outbreaks, history teaches us.
There are also major concerns about countries where the sanitary infrastructure is in tatters due to long-term conflicts, such as Yemen, Congo and Gaza.
And as is known: the most powerful weapon against cholera is clean water and a properly functioning sewer system. Vaccines alone are not enough.
2024-03-05 07:01:28
#world #supply #vaccines #cholera #run
