Cholera vaccination administered to 140 Indian peacekeepers in Haiti, India will bear cost: UN

The United Nations mission in Haiti has administered cholera vaccines to 140 Indian peacekeepers despite India certifying that the personnel were given the required dosage before they left for the Caribbean country in August 2015. “The United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti says that all Formed Police Units who were not already vaccinated at the time of their arrival in the Mission have now been given the vaccine,” UN Secretary General’s spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Tuesday. A second dose of the vaccine will be administered in the coming days.
The world body said the cost incurred to administer the vaccines would be deducted from the reimbursement to the troop. It added that it was the responsibility of the countries sending their troops to Haiti “to ensure their personnel receive all mandatory



vaccinations prior to deployment”.
Dujarric said the international body wanted more information from India on the issue because sending troops without cholera vaccine to Haiti was a serious matter. “We are trying to get more information, obviously, from the Indian authorities”.
Haiti witnessed a cholera outbreak in October 2010. Around 7,88,000 people have been affected by the disease that claimed more than 9,000 lives. The UN has been working in the country to keep the disease under check.
In October last year, the UN announced that it would provide $200 million (Rs 1,330 crore approximately) to help Haiti victims. Dujarric said $1.5 million to $1.8 million have been pooled in so far for treatment of the victims. While South Korea has contributed $1 million (Rs 6.6 crore approximately), the rest came from France.