[Ka-ching! $$$$. And
could be Covert vaccine agenda]
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/104049.php
GAVI 5.7 million Yellow Fever Vaccination Campaign In Mali
after One Disease Case in 2007
Yellow Fever Vaccination Campaign In Mali
Main Category: Immune System / Vaccines
Also Included In: Tropical Diseases
Article Date: 15 Apr 2008 - 4:00 PDT
A week-long campaign to vaccinate 5.7 million people across the southern half of
Mali begins Saturday in the country and, for the first time ever, a mass
vaccination campaign will be undertaken thanks to "south-south" vaccine supply:
South America's only manufacturer of Yellow Fever vaccine, Bio Manguinhos of
Brazil, will be supplying half of the vaccine necessary. "The fact that we have
now three manufacturers of WHO pre-qualified Yellow Fever vaccine around the
world means that we are much more able to meet supply demands both for emergency
and routine vaccination, and this first mass shipment of vaccine from one
developing country to another is proof of that," said Dr Adamou Yada, Regional
Adviser for Communicable Disease Surveillance and Response in WHO's African
Region.
Three million doses are coming from the Brazilian company, while the other three
million doses will be provided by Sanofi Pasteur - one of the other two WHO
pre-qualified manufacturers of Yellow Fever vaccine.
The vaccine campaign will take a week and cover the southern half of the
country: 33 districts in total, all south of 15 degrees North latitude, will be
targeted.
The targeted areas were singled out after a risk assessment showed that there
was minimal risk of Yellow Fever in the northern part of the country - which is
largely desert and where, consequently, the ecological conditions for Yellow
fever virus transmission to humans are not present - while several districts in
the west of the country had already been vaccinated. In total, 5.7 million
people in these 33 districts will be vaccinated by local health teams and
volunteers, with extensive field support provided by WHO, UNICEF and the Mali
branch of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
"Having such a thorough and accurate risk assessment - which was funded by GAVI
- greatly reduces both the cost and the complexity of ensuring that we reach
vaccination coverage levels of 80% in all at-risk areas of Mali, without doing
unnecessary vaccination," explains Dr William Perea, head of WHO's Yellow Fever
Programme at WHO headquarters in Geneva.
Current vaccination coverage rates in the provinces in question are estimated to
be 48% in those districts where children under age 15 were vaccinated in 2006,
while the rates are estimated to be much, much lower in districts not covered in
2006. The vaccination campaign is set to last one week, from 12-18 April. Once
the campaign is complete, the risk of Yellow Fever outbreaks in Mali will be
greatly reduced for a minimum of 10 years - and for many more, if routine
immunization programmes include Yellow Fever vaccination and are continued over
the long-term.
Mali's mass vaccination campaign is part of the Yellow Fever Initiative's
efforts, with $58 million worth of support from GAVI, to drastically reduce the
numbers at risk from Yellow Fever in West Africa. Mali is the third country,
after Togo and Senegal, to undertake a national preventive vaccination campaign
as part of the Initiative, with other countries due to follow suit as soon as
sufficient vaccine is available.
Yellow Fever is an acute, haemorrhagic, viral disease - transmitted to humans by
infected mosquitoes. Infection may result in no illness, equally illness may
range from mild to severe; 20-50% of those with severe illness will die of the
disease. There is no known specific antiviral therapy against YF, although the
disease can be prevented by the YF vaccine , which provides immunity for at
least 10 years.
Because of its severity, even a single case (such as Mali reported in 2007) is a
public health concern. Yellow Fever is endemic in tropical regions of Africa and
South America where 44 countries (33 in Africa and 11 in South America) are
considered to be at-risk. The public health threat from the disease is removed
only when vaccination rates in at-risk areas are at least 60-80%. Currently, 610
million people are considered to be at-risk from the disease in Africa.
The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization is a partnership of public and
private sector resources with a single, shared focus: to improve child health in
the poorest countries by extending the reach and quality of immunisation
coverage within strengthened health services. These efforts are directed through
the financing mechanisms of the GAVI Fund and the work of the Geneva-based GAVI
Secretariat which channel funding, optimise product availability and market
pricing, and coordinate the field support necessary to plan and implement
programmes in the world's poorest countries.
The 12 countries taking part on the Yellow Fever Initiative are Benin, Burkina
Faso, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal,
Sierra Leone and Togo.
The ministries of Health of these 12 countries are being supported financially
and technically by a Yellow Fever partnership which was launched in February
2006 and now includes WHO, UNICEF, GAVI, Médecins Sans Frontières, IFRC, the
Association pour la Médecine Préventive (AMP), the Programme for Appropriate
Technology (PATH), the European Union Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO), the United
States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Global Outbreak
Alert and Response Network (GOARN) and the Institut Pasteur. The partnership
continues to take on new members.
The 12 countries taking part on the Yellow Fever Initiative are Benin, Burkina
Faso, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal,
Sierra Leone and Togo.
The ministries of Health of these 12 countries are being supported financially
and technically by a Yellow Fever partnership which was launched in February
2006 and now includes WHO, UNICEF, GAVI, Médecins Sans Frontières, IFRC, the
Association pour la Médecine Préventive (AMP), the Programme for Appropriate
Technology (PATH), the European Union Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO), the United
States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Global Outbreak
Alert and Response Network (GOARN) and the Institut Pasteur. The partnership
continues to take on new members.
The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization is a partnership of public and
private sector resources with a single, shared focus: to improve child health in
the poorest countries by extending the reach and quality of immunisation
coverage within strengthened health services. These efforts are directed through
the financing mechanisms of the GAVI Fund and the work of the Geneva-based GAVI
Secretariat which channel funding, optimise product availability and market
pricing, and coordinate the field support necessary to plan and implement
programmes in the world's poorest countries.
http://www.who.int