The World Health Organization (WHO) resumes preventive vaccination against cholera, after a three-year pause.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that global supplies of cholera vaccines have significantly increased, allowing the resumption of preventive campaigns after a three-year pause. This suspension was caused by an acute shortage of vaccines, which forced the vaccination strategy to switch to a single dose instead of the usual two. WHO, together with UNICEF and Gavi, confirmed that annual supplies have doubled, from 35 million doses in 2022 to nearly 70 million by 2025. Mozambique was the first country to resume vaccination campaigns in the context of a cholera epidemic and severe flooding. An initial allocation of 20 million doses will be distributed in Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Bangladesh. Although vaccination is essential, the head of UNICEF emphasized that it must be accompanied by improvements in access to clean water and sanitation services.