Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and UNICEF have welcomed the new oral cholera vaccine (OCV), Euvichol-S, as the vaccine received World Health Organization (WHO) prequalification and can be made available to countries around the world.
The organisations said the prequalification of this new product will help EuBiologics, the manufacturer, produce more volumes of vaccine faster and at a lower cost, describing the development as a key step to expanding supply amidst the ongoing acute global upsurge of cholera outbreaks.
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“Today’s approval will help increase the overall supply of oral cholera vaccines (OCV) available in 2024, with approximately 50 million doses now forecasted to be available to the global stockpile this year, compared to 38 million in 2023,” Gavi and UNICEF added.
Cholera has been surging globally since 2021, with high case fatality rates despite availability of simple, effective and affordable treatment. The large number of outbreaks has led to unprecedented demand for vaccines from impacted countries.
While global OCV supply has increased eighteen-fold between 2013 and 2023, the large and sustained spike in demand has put a strain on the global stockpile of OCV. Partners and countries are working urgently on cholera response, prevention and control measures in the face of this crisis, and have called on countries, manufacturers and others to support.
“Prequalification of Euvichol-S represents a lifeline for vulnerable communities around the world,” said managing director of Vaccine Markets and Health Security at Gavi, Dr Derrick Sim.
Derrick said, “Every vaccine dose delivered through Gavi programmes today represents years of planning and investment to shape the market so supply matches countries’ needs. The approval of this new product could not have come at a more important time, given the acute upsurge of cholera outbreaks we are seeing worldwide. We commend EuBiologics for their role in ensuring countries around the world have access to cholera vaccines as part of their response toolkit.”
“Despite cholera being preventable and easily treatable, children continue to suffer from this potentially fatal disease. UNICEF has already secured access to all the available doses of the just-approved vaccine and will deliver these to the countries at the highest possible speed,” said director of UNICEF Supply Division, Leila Pakkala.