WHO advises using 1 dose of cholera vaccine due to shortage

Patients with cholera symptoms sit in an observation center at a cholera clinic run by Doctors Without Borders in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Friday, Oct. 7, 2022. [AP]

The World Health Organization and its partners are recommending that countries temporarily switch to using a single dose of the cholera vaccine instead of two due to a supply shortage as outbreaks of the water-borne disease surge globally.

In a statement on Wednesday, the UN agency and partners that include UNICEF and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said one dose of vaccine has proven effective in stopping outbreaks "even though evidence on the exact duration of protection is limited" and appears to be lower in children.