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UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- The UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) has confirmed that all formed police units, who were not vaccinated at the time of their arrival, have now been given the cholera vaccine, a UN spokesman said on Tuesday.
"A second dose, for those who have not had it, is being administered or will be in the coming days," UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters here.
Reports said that peacekeepers from India who landed in the Caribbean country last year in July-August have failed to get the required vaccinations.
"Cholera vaccination is mandatory for all peacekeepers deploying to peacekeeping operations and it is the responsibility of Member States to ensure that their personnel are vaccinated for all mandatory vaccinations prior to deployment," said Dujarric.
"Should troops deploy into a mission area without the required vaccinations, the supporting Mission takes measures to provide them," he noted. "All costs incurred are deducted from the reimbursement to the troop and police contributing countries."
Cholera is an acute diarrhoeal infection caused by ingestion of food or water contaminated with the bacteria. It can cause severe acute watery diarrhoea.
It is believed that cholera epidemic was introduced to Haiti by UN peacekeepers from Nepal, where cholera is endemic, after a massive earthquake hit Haiti in 2010.
Over the past six years, cholera has afflicted nearly 800,000 people and claimed the lives of more than 9,000 Haitians.
