The Ministry of Health of the Generalitat begins today to preventively vaccinate against monkeypox the group considered to be at high risk of infection due to their sexual activities or having HIV, at a time when Catalonia has exceeded one thousand positives.
After Madrid, Catalonia is the region with the most cases of smallpox, which already stands at 1,025 positives, the vast majority of whom are men between the ages of 20 and 60 who began to have symptoms between the 5 May and July 16.
The Community of Madrid has already this week started administering the pre-exposure vaccine to people between the ages of 18 and 45 with high-risk sexual practices. You must request an appointment on the Community of Madrid website and 50 daily newspapers have been activated, which will be expanded according to demand.
The administration in Barcelona of this pre-exposure vaccine was organized at the BCN Checkpoint, whose director, Pep Coll, took part in a press conference with the Secretary of Public Health, Carmen Cabezas.
This center mainly serves people living with HIV or who do not have this virus but who, due to their risky sexual practices, are more likely to contract it, so they take PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) medication, which reduces the possibility of infection.
This group, mostly LGTBI people, is the one that the Public Health Commission has set as a priority in pre-exposure vaccination, that is, before they have been infected with smallpox.
world cases
The director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, reported on Wednesday that more than 14,000 cases of monkeypox have already been detected in more than 80 countries, most of them located on the European continent.
Although in many regions there is a “downward trend” in infections, in others they are increasing and six countries recently reported their first cases. For now, most patients remain men who have sex with men. In this regard, Tedros stressed the need for all countries to ensure access to diagnostic tests and vaccines for populations most at risk of being infected with the monkeypox virus.
In addition, he continues, it is important to inform about this disease to guarantee adequate protection. “We continue to work with patients to create and send appropriate information to communities most at risk,” said the WHO Director General.
This Thursday, the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee will meet to analyze the latest data and consider whether or not the current outbreak of monkeypox constitutes a public health emergency of international concern.