PREPARATIONS are almost complete for 327,000 Zanzibaris in Unguja and Pemba to get vaccinated against cholera under the country’s ambitious strategy to eliminate the disease by 2028. Ministry of Health, Social Welfare, Elders, Gender and Children Director, Dr Abdallah Suleiman told journalists here yesterday that the first five-day phase of the jab will start on July 3 through July 7, 2021, with the second phase scheduled for July 31 through August 4, 2021.
He implored all the targeted islanders to take the immunisation, reassuring that its safety has been certified by relevant authorities in and outside the country.
“The vaccine is safe; it has no side effects,” Dr Suleiman told a media seminar on the vaccination Community Health Officer with the Ministry of Health, Faiza Mohamed Abdulkadir said the vaccination campaign is one component of the ten-year Zanzibar Comprehensive Cholera Elimination Plan which seeks to purge the disease by 2028.
Besides the vaccine, the programme also entails supply of clean and safe water; development of decent sanitation infrastructure; as well as social and behavioral change.
Ms Abdulkadir said all people at the age of one and above-with the exception of pregnant mothers will take the two doses. “We encourage people to complete all the two doses to extend the immunity to at least three years,” she said, elaborating that the single dose lasts for only six months.
The ministry has identified 58 Shahias which it perceives as highly prone to the deadly disease for vaccination in addition to other strategies to curb the infections. The government funded programme will consume 900m/-, with 220 vaccination centres earmarked in Unguja and Pemba, according to World Health Organisation’s Zanzibar Vaccination Coordinator, Dr Vendelin Simon.
The coordinator implored all the targeted islanders to respond positively to the programme, assuring that: “The vaccine is scientifically proved to be safe; and this is not the first vaccination in Zanzibar.” Zanzibar had its first cholera outbreak in 1978, and since then the tragedy had been hitting the Indian Ocean’s semi-autonomous archipelago repeatedly, with the record 2015/2016 outbreak in which 4,330 cases and 68 deaths were registered.
According to World Health Organisation (WHO), cholera is an acute diarrhoeal disease that can kill within hours if left untreated. Researchers have estimated that each year there are 1.3 to 4.0 million cases of cholera, and 21 000 to 143 000 deaths worldwide due to cholera.
Most of those infected will have no or mild symptoms and can be successfully treated with oral rehydration solution. Severe cases will need rapid treatment with intravenous fluids and antibiotics.
Provision of safe water and sanitation is critical to prevent and control the transmission of cholera and other waterborne diseases.
WHO states that oral cholera vaccines should be used in conjunction with improvements in water and sanitation to control cholera outbreaks and for prevention in areas known to be high risk for cholera.