World oral cholera vaccine stockpile empty, says WHO

A girl receives an oral cholera vaccine in Haiti. Global vaccine production is operating at full capacity, but demand is outpacing supply, the U.N. health agency said in its monthly situation report. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

There are no more oral cholera vaccines left in the global stockpile, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday (October 18, 2024), with the shortage jeopardising work to stop the disease’s spread.

Global vaccine production is operating at full capacity, but demand is outpacing supply, the U.N. health agency said in its monthly situation report.

“As of October 14, the global stockpile of oral cholera vaccine is depleted, with no remaining doses available,” the WHO said.

“Although 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 said that between September 1 and October 14, the International Coordinating Group on vaccine provision received requests for oral cholera vaccines from Bangladesh, Sudan, Niger, Ethiopia and Myanmar.

The requests amounted to a total of 8.4 million doses, but due to limited availability, only 7.6 million doses could be shipped.

Deaths spiking

The WHO said there had been 4,39,724 cholera cases and 3,432 deaths reported this year up to September 29.

“Although the number of cases in 2024 is 16% lower than last year, the 126% spike in deaths is deeply concerning,” it said.

The WHO said the mortality increase might be partially down to where the outbreaks are located.

Those include conflict-affected areas where healthcare access has been severely compromised and areas hit by flooding.

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), pushing the total number of affected countries in 2024 to 30, said the WHO.

In September, 47,234 new cholera cases were reported from 14 countries.

And this month, a cholera case was detected in conflict-hit Lebanon, where the WHO warned the risk of it spreading was “very high” due to the deteriorating sanitation conditions for the large numbers of displaced people.

Cholera is an acute intestinal infection that spreads through food and water contaminated with the bacterium vibrio cholerae, often from faeces. It causes severe diarrhoea, vomiting and muscle cramps. Cholera can kill within hours when not treated, though it can be treated with simple oral rehydration, and antibiotics for more severe cases.

In April, the Gavi vaccine alliance and the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF said South Korean firm EuBiologics was currently the only oral cholera vaccine supplier to the global stockpile, although other manufacturers were expected to have products available in the coming years.