MSF Lebanon starts cholera vaccination amid threat of full-blown spread

MSF Lebanon starts cholera vaccination amid threat of full-blown spread

Médecins Sans Frontières /Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is contributing to the national vaccination campaign against cholera launched by the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health’s by vaccinating people in Arsal, Akkar, Tripoli and Baalbek-Hermel in the north and northeast of Lebanon where most cholera cases are registered in the country, a statement said.

“600,000 cholera vaccines received by Lebanon, as first phase procurement, are to be administered in coordination with various international and local actors,” MSF said in a statement.

“MSF has started vaccinating since five days and, so far, we have managed to vaccinate 6,677 people,” says Marcelo Fernandez, MSF Head of Mission in Lebanon. “Our teams are going from door to door in all neighborhoods, visiting homes, shops, and camps actively seeking out people to get vaccinated and to raise awareness on the importance of vaccination of a rapidly spread disease,” he added.

Since Lebanon recorded its first cholera case in almost three decades on October 6, 18 people have died as a result of the disease, with the number of confirmed and suspected cases rising to 3,395 as of 14 November 2022.

MSF’s vaccination efforts are targeting Lebanese and refugees living in poor and/or overcrowded areas in the country, conditions that put people