Health Ministry to conduct second cholera vaccination

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Ministry of Health is planning to carry out the second phase of vaccination against Cholera.

The areas being targeted during the second phase are Nebbi, Pakwach, Zombo and Bududa.

This comes following the first phase of immunization that took place in April 2019.

“The vaccines arrived safely into the country and teams have been undergoing training. They are already in the respective districts and are waiting to start immunizing people this week,” says Dr Charles Olaro, the Director of Clinical Services at the ministry.

The second phase of vaccination comes weeks after district medical officers in Bududa-one of the cholera hotspots in the country raised concern about the delayed start of the second phase.

According to William Kotaki, the Bulucheke Health Centre III in-charge, there were concerns that the people who received the first dose of the vaccination were at risk of getting infected with cholera since they had not received the second dose of the vaccine two weeks after.

Dr Olaro says that there were no delays on carrying out the second phase of the vaccination.

He says the ministry has worked within WHO guidelines and that people in affected areas will get the second dose at the planned for time.

“We vaccinated them in April and there’s no way that we could have been ready to vaccinate them with the second dose when the vaccines just arrived into the country on November 16, 2019.

According to WHO guidelines, two doses of the vaccine need to be administered within six months of the first does to make it more effective. The first dose is only 85 percent effective in protecting against cholera.

If after six months the second dose has not been given, the efficacy of the vaccine can drop to as much as 30 percent.

A total of 740,000 doses of vaccines arrived and vaccination is expected to run form 9-13 December 2019.

Cholera is an infectious disease that causes severe watery diarrhoea which can lead to dehydration and even death if it goes untreated. It is caused by eating food and drinks that are contaminated with faeces.

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