Up to and including Wednesday, 1,976 people have received a preventive vaccination against the monkey pox virus, the RIVM reports. The institute does not report how many people were invited, so the turnout is not known.
About half of the people who have had a shot (987 people) have been vaccinated by the GGD in Amsterdam.
The preventive vaccination started last week in the Amsterdam and Haaglanden regions. On the first two days, 146 of the 382 invited people showed up, a turnout of about 38 percent. The GGDs attributed this to the summer holidays.
People are now being vaccinated in more places in the country. Utrecht started last Saturday, IJsselland, Drenthe and Gelderland-Midden started on Monday and South Limburg on Tuesday. The regions of Rotterdam-Rijnmond and Friesland start on Thursday and Hollands Noorden on Friday.
The monkeypox vaccination will start next week in Groningen, Twente and Zaanstreek-Waterland. The first injections should also be given in the other regions next week, the RIVM reports.
In the first batch, several tens of thousands of people can be vaccinated preventively. They are invited because they may be at the greatest risk of becoming infected with the virus. Transgender people and men who have sex with men are eligible for the shot if they are HIV positive or take medication to prevent them from contracting HIV.
Number of positive tests increases more slowly
The number of positive tests has increased more slowly in the last week than in the weeks before. The counter stands at 957 confirmed infections on Thursday. That is 32 more than last Monday.
Most infections have been found in men who have sex with men. Monkeypox is not a venereal disease, but mainly spreads through skin-to-skin contact. Anyone can contract the virus, from a ‘gay disease’ is so no question.
In a week, the number of confirmed cases has increased by 79. That is the smallest weekly increase since the end of June. Most people who tested positive are men who have sex with men.
In the figures of the RIVM, the region of Noord-Holland and Flevoland has the most confirmed infections: 579. This includes Amsterdam. This is followed by the West region (Rotterdam and The Hague) with 155 confirmed monkey pox cases.
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