Amid an ongoing global cholera surge that has stretched cholera vaccine stocks, officials from the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, said today that there is now enough vaccine supply to relaunch preventive vaccination campaigns.

Mozambique will be the first country to restart preventive vaccination, which was halted in 2022 amid the global surge in cases. It’s among several countries in Africa that have been hit hard by outbreaks of the highly contagious bacterial disease, which spreads through water and food contaminated by the Vibrio cholerae bacterium and causes severe diarrhea and dehydration. Severe flooding has affected more than 700,000 people in the country and damaged water systems, further increasing cholera risk.

The global surge in cholera began in 2021. Although there was a slight decline in 2025, more than 630,000 cases of cholera or acute watery diarrhea were reported to the WHO from 33 countries from January 2025 through January 2026, with 7,800 deaths. Children under age five years are among the most susceptible to dying from cholera.

Of the 20 million oral cholera vaccine (OCV) doses being deployed for prevention campaigns, 3.6 million have been delivered to Mozambique, 6.1 million to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and 10.3 million are slated for Bangladesh.

Global supply of vaccine has doubled

Officials said sustained efforts by global agencies, manufactures, and other stakeholders has boosted the global supply of OCV from 35 million doses in 2022 to nearly 70 million in 2025. The preventive doses are being financed by Gavi and procured and delivered by UNICEF.

“For the first time in years, this increase in vaccines will allow us to better prevent large-scale cholera emergencies,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a press release. “Resuming preventive cholera vaccination will protect children and help stop this highly contagious disease in its tracks. But it must go hand in hand with other efforts, including better access to safe water and basic sanitation.”