HEALTH: CHOLERA VACCINES TO ARRIVE NIGERIA SOON - GAVI ANNOUNCES

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Cholera vaccines will soon be available in Nigeria, according to Dr. Sania Nishtar, CEO of the Vaccine Alliance, Gavi.

The immunizations, according to Nishtar, who made this announcement on her X account on Thursday, would contribute to containing the continuing and fatal disease outbreak.

This comes as the fatal disease begins to spread throughout the nation.

Nishtar tweeted, “Encouraged to learn that #Cholera vaccines from the #Gavi-funded global vaccine stockpile will soon arrive in Nigeria to help curb the country’s deadly and ongoing outbreak. We stand ready to work with our partners #UNICEF and #WHO to support Minister #muhammadpate, #Fmohnigeria, and #NCDCgov’s timely efforts to contain this outbreak and protect those at the highest risk.

“Despite the large number of cholera outbreaks this year, our stockpile is now fully replenished, and production continues at maximum capacity. We hope to keep supporting cholera-affected countries with their control plans. #stopcholera.”

When the organism Vibrio cholerae is consumed by contaminated food or water, it can lead to cholera, a highly contagious food and waterborne illness.

The main contributing factors have been identified as the use of tainted water and poor sanitation, which are made worse by the arrival of the rainy season. The latter frequently results in a rise in cholera cases because of flooding and tainted water sources.

On June 27, 2024, Nishtar responded to the outbreak by saying that the organization was worried about the cholera outbreak in Nigeria and was prepared to assist the nation in responding, including by seeking emergency vaccination doses if necessary.

As of July 15, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention recorded 3,623 suspected cholera cases and 103 deaths across 34 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

The current outbreak has spread to 187 Local Government Areas, with a cumulative case fatality rate of 2.8 per cent since the beginning of the year.

Responding to her post, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Muhammad Pate thanked Gavi’s CEO for facilitating the vaccines.

Pate tweeted, “Thanks #SaniaNishtar for facilitating our early access to
#gavi-funded #Cholera vaccines. We will deploy the vaccines efficiently and effectively in response to the ongoing outbreak.

“Thanks also to President Tinubu #officialABAT for his astute leadership in setting up a multi-sector cabinet committee to support the Emergence Operations Centre led by #NCDCgov to work with our 36 states in a national response to the outbreak. We are seeing early signs of slowing down but we’ll not relent as the situation can reverse. So, the cholera vaccines strengthen our hands.”