Cholera Vaccines 2023

Cholera Vaccines June 2023

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the European Medicine Agency (EMA), and the U.K. NHS recommend oral cholera vaccines (OCV) for people visiting areas of active cholera transmission. The International Coordinating Group (ICG) for OCVs was created in 1997 to manage the global stockpile. Since its establishment until October 2022, the WHO, UNICEF, and Médecins sans Frontières have facilitated 73 million doses of OCV to 23 countries. In 2022, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published Cholera Vaccine: Recommendations. 

Cholera Vaccine Availability 2023

A global shortage of cholera vaccines continues in 2023. The worldwide supply in 2022 was 36 million OCV doses. In the first quarter of 2023, 11.7 million doses have been requested (by six countries), of which 2.2 million doses have been shipped. Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance published a roadmap on May 22, 2023 that outlines actions needed to ensure the supply of OCV can meet growing international demand. GAVI stated in May 2023 that its new OCV roadmap forecasts that supply will start to meet the demand for preventive vaccination by 2026.

Cholera Vaccines WHO-Qualified

Currently, three World Health Organization (WHO) pre-qualified oral cholera vaccines (OCV): Dukoral®, Shanchol™, and Euvichol®. All three OCVs require two doses for complete protection against cholera for up to three years, while a single dose provides short-term protection.

Dukoral® is administered with a buffer solution that, for adults, requires 150 ml of clean water. Dukoral can be given to all individuals over the age of 2 years. There must be at least seven days and no more than six weeks between each dose. Children aged 2-5 require a third dose.

Shanchol™ and Euvichol® are essentially the same vaccines produced by two different manufacturers. Therefore, they do not require a buffer solution for administration. They are given to all individuals over the age of one year with a minimum of two weeks delay between each dose of these vaccines.

Vaxchora® was a U.S. FDA-approved live attenuated recombinant V. cholerae O1 Inaba Vaccine Strain CVD 103-HgR in June 2016. Unfortunately, in December 2020, the maker of Vaxchora® temporarily discontinued production. Therefore, Vaxchora is unavailable in the U.S. as of May 2023.

Cholera Vaccine Dosage 2023

The ICG announced on October 19, 2022, a temporary suspension of the standard two-dose vaccination regimen in cholera outbreak response campaigns, deploying a single-dose vaccination approach in 2023.

Cholera Outbreaks

As of June 2023, numerous countries have reported cholera outbreaks in 2023.

Cholera Vaccine News 2023

June 1, 2023 - The WHO published a Multi-country cholera outbreak, External situation report #3.

May 15, 2023 - The WHO published a Multi-country cholera outbreak, External situation report #2.

March 22, 2023 - The WHO published - Multi-country cholera outbreaks, External situation report #1.

February 17, 2023 - @WHOAFRO tweeted that 719,241 doses of OCVs have arrived in Mozambique to prepare vaccination campaigns in the coming weeks for provinces most affected by the cholera outbreak.

February 11, 2023 - The WHO announced it provides guidance to identify target populations for cholera vaccination and requesting vaccines through the ICG mechanism in acutely limited supply.

February 9, 2023 - The WHO reported two OCV vaccination campaigns had been conducted across 21 Malawi districts since the outbreak's onset. A total of 1,947,696 doses were received as the first batch. A second request for OCV was submitted to the ICG in October 2022, and 2,941,982 doses were approved for a single-dose campaign. 

December 5, 2022 - The U.S. CDC published: Travelers Returning to the U.S. with Cholera – Information and CDC Guidance for Healthcare Providers.

November 29, 2022 - About two million doses of OCVs arrived in Damascus, Syria.

November 10, 2022 - The WHO supported the Minister of Public Health of Lebanon in securing a shipment of 600,000 cholera vaccine doses from the ICG.

October 19, 2022 - The WHO Director-General stated four agencies decided to suspend the two-dose OCV vaccination strategy in favor of a one-dose approach so that more people receive some protection from limited stocks.