Oral Cholera Vaccine Shortage Could Be Ending

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced in early 2024, then in October 2024, that the global demand (74 million) for oral cholera vaccine (OCV) has exceeded the supply (38 million). According to news announced today, the OCV shortage could be ending.

Valneva SE announced on November 7, 2024, that DUKORAL® sales in the third quarter of 2024 grew 85% year-over-year as marketing investments resumed following a successful regulatory inspection of the company’s new vaccine manufacturing site in Sweden.

The WHO has prequalified the DUKORAL vaccine, and it is authorized in Europe, Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Switzerland, Thailand, and the United Kingdom to protect people against cholera and Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli.

Dukoral is used in people aged from 2 years who will be visiting areas with a high risk of cholera.

The WHO classified the global resurgence of cholera as a grade 3 emergency. As of the end of September 2024, a total of 439,724 cholera cases and 3,432 deaths were reported across five WHO regions this year.