Ronald Brus, Chief Executive of Crucell, the Dutch company which makes the leading cholera vaccine Dukoral, claimed that the Haiti health officials refused an offer of tens of thousands of doses of cholera vaccine which was offered by him.

He further added that the refused donation could have saved the life of 5,500 by limiting the increase of an epidemic that caused more than 363,000 illnesses, triggering the call for $175m to take action.

The debate also highlighted the fact that what are the main reasons behind the cause of Haiti’s cholera outbreak and how the international institutions can help in removing this problem.

Number of current reports argued that the virus was transported by the UN peacekeepers.

Peter Graaff, the current Haiti representative of the World Health Organization, commented that he was not sure if the “ring fencing” would actually had worked because the moving of the vaccination would had taken a lot of time, while the virus was spreading rapidly.

On the other hand, Peter Hotez, President of the Sabin Vaccine Institute in Washington, commented that Crucell contributions could surely have made a difference. Though, he also argued that the simultaneous delivery of the medicines and the fresh water was not feasible.