Kenya has an effective cholera vaccine

Shanchol Oral Cholera Vaccine {PHOTO COURTESY}

When Jane Gathoni entered professor Charles Chunge’s clinic along Ngong’ Road after being infected with cholera, little did she know that there is an effective cholera vaccine in Kenya.

Gathoni, a resident of Kibera, is not alone. Many Kenyans, including medics and paramedics do not know that there is a cholera vaccine.

“I was told to bring everybody from our house for vaccination against cholera after I was treated with antibiotics to prevent the spread of the disease to others,” says Gathoni.

Doctors usually advise infected persons to ensure that their family members are vaccinated. The water-borne disease is killing people who reside along the beaches of Kisumu and Siaya counties. Recently, six people died at Misori and Lwanda Kotieno beaches in Siaya while in the neighbouring Kisumu County, two people succumbed to the disease at Kaloka beach.

Cholera kills within four hours and between March and August this year, over 350 people died from it across the country.

In urban areas, residents of informal settlements are at a higher risk because of poor sanitation, thus to eradicate, or stem the spread and outbreaks, sanitation must be improved.

But the best way of preventing cholera is through vaccinations which Kenya has had for the past decade. Even then, another anti-cholera vaccine was launched in the country last month.

The oral vaccine, under the brand name Shanchol, was declared safe and effective by the World Health Organisation.

The global health body says in a report that the vaccine is prequalified and licensed in over 60 countries.

Experts say the vaccine should be used in conjunction with other prevention and control strategies in areas where the disease is endemic and should be considered in areas at risk for outbreaks.

“Vaccination should not disrupt the provision of other high-priority health interventions to control or prevent cholera outbreaks,” says Dr Mohan Lumba, the chair, Kenya Pediatric Consortium. “Vaccines provide a short-term effect that can be implemented to bring about an immediate response while the longer term interventions of improving water and sanitation, which involve large investments, are put into place.”

He adds that preemptive or reactive vaccination should cover as many people who are eligible to receive the vaccine, as possible and should be conducted as quickly as possible to protect Kenyans from cholera.

The oral cholera vaccine has demonstrated efficacy in a large-scale clinical trial among 70,000 people in Kolkata, India.

Results indicate that protection conferred by two doses was 65 percent five years after vaccination, the longest protection on record among currently available cholera vaccines.

It has also been used for Mass Vaccination Campaign in Response to an Outbreak in other African countries.