International Vaccination Group to Start Stockpiling Yellow Fever Vaccine
Associated Press;
Harris, Edward
[11/21/2002]
The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) has built a stockpile of millions of doses of the yellow fever vaccine using $3 million per year in funding over the last two years; the vaccines are set for rapid deployment if an outbreak should occur. About 200,000 people, mostly in Africa and South America, contract yellow fever, and 30,000 of those people die due to the disease. An outbreak of the mosquito-borne disease is now possible due to previous relaxation in immunizations against the disease that led to manufacturers abandoning the unprofitable product to concentrate on newer vaccines. An outbreak in Guinea was particularly bad in 2000 due to lack of available vaccine doses, which is the reason for GAVI's current stockpile.
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