Sri Lanka risks rapid rabies spread due to vaccines shortage
Health officials on Wednesday said rabies might spread rapidly in Sri Lanka in 2023 due to vaccine shortages.
Director of Public Health Veterinary Services L.D. Kithsiri told the media that there were no vaccines in storage units in Kandy, Galle, Matara, Hambantota, Colombo, and Gampaha districts.
Mr Kithsiri said 28 people had died in 2022 from rabies; out of that, 17 contracted the disease from dog bites.
“We are carrying out vaccination programmes until February using the remaining vaccines in other regional storage units. There will be no vaccination from February,’’ he said.
Mr Kithsiri said in 2022, over a million dogs were vaccinated and sterilised, adding that 40,000 dogs were female, noting that “there is no shortage of vaccines given to humans who are hospitalised, but this might change really fast if rabies spreads among dogs.’’
According to WHO data, Sri Lanka has successfully reduced human rabies deaths from 377 in the mid-1970s to 31 in 2021 due to its successful vaccination drive.
(Xinhua/NAN)
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