Cholera: FG shopping for emergency vaccine
In the wake of the cholera outbreak in the country, the Federal Government yesterday initiated dialogue with the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation, GAVI, to obtain emergency supplies of oral cholera vaccine, OCV, as Nigeria battles the disease amid a global shortage of the vaccine.
Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, NCDC, Dr Jide Idris, who disclosed this in Abuja, said the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, is leading the discussions with GAVI.
The development came as NCDC yesterday announced an increase in the death toll and spread of the disease across 32 states and 115 local government areas of the federation.
Nigeria utilises three World Health Organization, WHO, pre-qualified oral cholera vaccines, including Dukoral, Shanchol, and Euvichol-Plus.
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Two doses of any of the three vaccines are required for full protection and are administered only to persons and groups at high risk, such as travellers to areas with active cholera transmission or people living in areas experiencing outbreaks.
On the request for emergency doses of cholera vaccine,, Idris said: “GAVI, a global health partnership, plays a pivotal role in improving access to vaccines in low-income countries. Through these negotiations, Nigeria aims to secure an emergency supply of cholera vaccines to curb the outbreak.
“Cholera vaccines are not stocked in our public facilities, though they are available in limited quantities in the private sector. But vaccines alone are not the only preventative measures we have at the moment; we must also ensure environmental cleanliness and proper hand hygiene.”
