Shortage of yellow fever vaccines poses global health security crisis
According to the UN World Health Organization (WHO), an outbreak of the yellow fever, a mosquito-borne viral disease, has already killed 277 people in Angola since December.
An article in the Journal of the American Medical Association warns that it could spread to other continents. The WHO also says that almost six million people have been vaccinated in Angola, which has a population of 24.3 million.
In April, the WHO said the emergency stockpile of vaccines had run out. The virus has already spread to neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya and China.
Two professors from Georgetown University warned in an article that the shortage of vaccine supplies could potentially lead to a health security crisis if it spreads further in Africa, Asia – which has never experienced a yellow fever epidemic – and the Americas.
Daniel Lucey and Lawrence Gostinsay wrote in the journal that the WHO “should urgently convene an emergency committee to mobilize funds, co-ordinate an international response, and spearhead a surge in vaccine production”.
Yellow fever is a virus that can cause bleeding, jaundice and kidney failure, It is spread by mosquitoes, usually the Aedesaegypti mosquito, the same species that spreads the Zika virus. It is endemic in tropical regions of Africa and South America.
A vaccine can prevent infection but there is no specific drug treatment for people who are infected.
Source: BBC
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