World Health Organisation (WHO) says Malawi should not anticipate to receive additional Oral Cholera vaccine (OCV) doses it requested any time soon as the UN agency does not have enough stocks.

Malawi presented its request for additional 7.6 million doses in January this year after the Ministry of Health announced that it had exhausted all the 2.9 million does it received from United Nations in November 2022.

WHO Programme Area Manager responsible for emergency response in Africa Dr. Fiona Braka indicated that due to limited stocks it is not giving out the doses to countries that have already benefitted.

A public health professional with a Masters in Public health from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health stressed that the organizations is prioritizing countries which have not received any.

 “The surplus still remains very restricted but I want to mention that Malawi has been one of those countries that has benefitted preferably from other countries in terms of this vaccine. Unfortunately for now, we are not able to take on more countries getting more doses until the supply comes up,” she disclosed.

As of 10th March, Malawi had recorded 289 new cases, 2 new deaths, with 453 patients currently admitted in treatment units.