South Ossetia without infant vaccines for three months
South Ossetia has had a three-month shortage in infant vaccines. The anti-tuberculosis and TDaP vaccines protect against dangerous infectious diseases such as tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis (whooping cough).
Microgene, the Russian company that supplies the vaccines, experienced a technical malfunction and has had to lower their production output of these vaccines. The South Ossetian Ministry of Health is currently looking for new suppliers in Russia.
The situation has further been aggravated by major power outages in South Ossetia which took place at the end of 2017. The lack of power caused refrigerators in hospitals and outpatient clinics to stop working. Consequently, vaccines stored in these refrigerators have had to be thrown away.