WHO announces restart of preventive cholera vaccinations after nearly 4-year halt

Preventive cholera vaccination programs will restart globally after they were halted for nearly four years due to a vaccine shortage, the World Health Organization said Wednesday. In a joint statement, WHO, vaccine alliance GAVI and the United Nations Children's Fund said stocks of oral cholera vaccines in the global stockpile they manage had improved to nearly 70 million doses last year. WHO, GAVI and UNICEF said a first allocation of 20 million doses was now being deployed, with 3.6 million doses going to Mozambique, 6.1 million to Congo and 10.3 million planned for delivery to Bangladesh.