The World Health Organization may have declared the monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency, but experts say the general population doesn’t have to worry about getting vaccinated amid global supply issues.
Vaccination campaigns currently underway in Canada and elsewhere that are limited to men who have sex with multiple male partners makes sense, infectious diseases physicians told the Star, given that it is the group almost exclusively affected by the outbreak, and such campaigns can help ensure there isn’t wider transmission to other segments of the population.
“But at the same time, we still understand there is a fairly high at-risk population, and the men who have sex with men population should be the priority,” he said, “recognizing that that’s going to have the effect of protecting that population, and also have an impact on the wider population if population is better protected.”
The Public Health Agency of Canada has so far distributed 70,000 vaccine doses to the provinces, of which more than 27,000 have been administered. The agency says it has more doses available should the provinces need them, but refuses to provide a number, citing “security implications and requirements.”
Bavarian Nordic announced in June that Canada had purchased US$56 million worth of doses as part of a five-year contract that will see deliveries begin next year. The Public Health Agency declined to say how many doses were purchased, and Bavarian Nordic did not return a request for comment. The virus is endemic in parts of Africa, and outbreaks outside of the continent have been rare. This year’s outbreak, beginning with cases identified in Europe in May, is the first instance of widespread community transmission of the virus outside of Africa in multiple countries.
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