The World Health Organization (WHO) recently announced that there aren’t any more oral cholera vaccines left in the global stockpile, with the shortage threatening efforts to curb the spread of the disease, AFP reported.
Global vaccine production is running at full capacity, but demand is outstripping supply, according to the UN health agency’s monthly situation report.
“As of October 14, global stocks of oral cholera vaccine have been exhausted, and remaining doses are not available,” the WHO said. “While more doses are expected in the coming weeks, this shortage poses significant challenges to outbreak response efforts and hampers efforts to control the spread of the disease.”
The WHO stated that between September 1 and October 14, the International Coordinating Group on Immunization received requests for oral cholera vaccines from Bangladesh, Sudan, Niger, Ethiopia, and Myanmar. The requests totaled 8.4 million doses; however, due to limited availability, only 7.6 million doses could be shipped.
According to WHO data, as of September 29 of this year, there have been 439,724 cases of cholera and 3,432 registered deaths.
“Although the number of cases in 2024 is 16 percent lower than the previous year, the sharp increase in deaths—by 126 percent—is deeply worrying,” the organization said.
The WHO stated that the increase in deaths may be partly due to the containment of outbreaks. This includes conflict-affected areas, where access to health care has been severely hampered, as well as flood-affected areas.
Since last month’s report, new cholera outbreaks have been reported in Niger (705 cases and 17 deaths) and Thailand (five cases with no deaths), bringing the total number of affected countries to 30 in 2024, the WHO said. In September, 47,234 new cases of cholera were registered in 14 countries. This month, a case of cholera was detected in conflict-torn Lebanon, where the WHO has warned that the risk of its spread is high due to poor sanitation among the large numbers of displaced people.