The Secretary of Public Health of the Generalitat, Carmen Cabezas, explained that they will start vaccination against monkeypox on Thursday for people in priority groups and will start contacting them to give them an appointment this Wednesday.
In a press conference, Cabezas clarified that vaccination prior to exposure to the disease will be carried out “fundamentally” to men who have sex with men and who participate in PrEP (Pre-Exposure Proxy) programs and prevention programs for people who are already HIV-positive.
These people also they must beunder 45, not having received the vaccine before, not to have suffered from the disease, not have been in close contact with a case of monkeypox in the last ten days, no symptoms compatible with the disease there no general contraindications to any vaccine.
Catalonia has 1,643 vaccines of the 5,300 that have already arrived in Spain and the doses will be administered at three points: Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, BCN Checkpoint and the Drassanes-Vall unit of Hebron STD.
People who have been exposed to the virus and who may have complications such as minors, pregnant women and people on treatment with immunosuppressants, as well as healthcare professionals who have treated a case without adequate protection, will also be vaccinated.
Cabezas stressed the importance of administering the vaccine four days after exposure and clarified that those people who need the post-exposure vaccine will be located through epidemiological surveillance.
Catalonia has recorded 1,025 confirmed cases of monkeypox Of some 1,407 suspected or probable cases, most men between 20 and 60 years old who started having symptoms between May 5 and July 16.
Cabezas confirmed that there is community transmission in Catalonia and defended that vaccines will help but regretted that coverage could be granted to all those at risk because the availability of doses is limited.
The secretary clarified that Catalonia has “a third” of the doses available in Spain as they have decided the distribution based on the volume of the population, the number of positive cases of monkeypox and the number of people who receive PrEP or that they have HIV.
BCN Checkpoint-BCN PrEP-Point Medical Director Pep Coll stressed the importance of detecting positive cases as early as possible and that they self-isolate and follow national rules such as not sharing clothes or towels and wearing a mask, among others .. others.
With regard to epidemiological surveillance, he highlighted the identification and follow-up of contacts so that they are under observation and, in the event that this is one of the priority groups of the strategy, they receive the post-exposure vaccine.
As protective measures, he put forward sexual abstinence or the reduction of the number of sexual partners as well as the use of a condom, although he specified that it is effective “very limited“.
- Left6: There is no advertising configuration for the requested slot
He described other measures such as personal protective equipment for healthcare professionals in contact with patients and giving a “good information” to the population, especially among those most susceptible to infection, but avoiding social stigma.