In poor countries, like Bangladesh, cholera is a significant health burden. The oral cholera vaccine (OCV) is a technique for disease prevention and control. The goal of this project was to see if the International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b) could supply OCV to rural populations utilizing existing government infrastructure. The research was carried out in the rural sub-district of Keraniganj, which is located 20 kilometers from Dhaka, the capital city. All individuals aged one year and older were given two doses of OCV separated by 14 days. Existing government facilities were utilized to distribute the vaccination and also to keep it cool. To assess the coverage and feasibility of the OCV program, all vaccine-related events were documented at the 17 immunization sites. The first dosage of OCV was given to 29,029 people, while the second dose was given to 26,611 people. The youngest children had the highest immunization coverage, while those aged 18–29 had the lowest. Female participants had somewhat greater coverage than male ones. The vaccination cost was computed as US$1.00 per dosage plus freight, insurance, and transportation, totaling US$70,957 for vaccine delivery.
This was a project that collected empirical information on the use of a mass OCV campaign in the rural environment utilizing current public health program resources. Using the current governmental vaccine distribution infrastructure in Bangladesh, mass immunization with the OCV is viable in the rural environment.
Reference: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21645515.2018.1528833
