Louis Lozano
Mexico City, December 14 (EFE).- The Mexican government this year has turned its back on the thousands of people infected with monkeypox since the disease arrived in the country nearly seven months ago, denying them the purchase of vaccines and with shortages in health care as other countries in the region advance.
The Mexican capital recorded the first case in the country on May 28, a 50-year-old man who had mild symptoms and was only isolated.
Now, 3,455 infected and 11 dead later, according to data from the Ministry of Health, the government has only proposed recommendations and preventive measures, several activists explained to Efe.
“They have proposed containment through the most sensitive people, men who have sex with other men: who have no more than one stable partner or risky practices,” said Eduardo González, president of the Health Professionals Network. Positive.
Monkeypox, also known as “Monekypox” or “mpox”, is a viral infection whose main symptom is a rash on the face, extremities and genital regions and is mainly, but not exclusively, transmitted between men who have intercourse sexual with other men. Man.
The recommendations haven’t stopped transmission, so groups are calling for a stigma-free health protocol and detection methods that cut transmission chains.
“The most important problem is the lack of mechanisms that allow users to reach a health service with confidence, have a timely diagnosis and adequate follow-up,” explained González.
THE CONTRADICTIONS OF THE GOVERNMENT
The denial of the government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, activists denounce, is more profound: while a large part of the international community distributes vaccines to its citizens and the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends their use, Mexico has declined the purchase out of raising questions about its effectiveness.
Governments close to the Mexican president, such as that of Chile or Peru, and even that of his rival Jair Bolsonaro’s Brazil, have requested vials from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
“There is an economic and political question that goes beyond that. It is the president and the undersecretary of health (Hugo López-Gatell) who decide, and other ideas are not allowed despite the fact that we have scientific evidence that they can contribute to public health,” he said Gonzalez.
López-Gatell, doctor of epidemiology, recommended in an academic article published last November in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet the use of the monkeypox vaccine, the same one that is denied to Mexican patients.
“We are being fooled. He goes out in the morning (morning government press conference) or in international forums and says he has no clear evidence that the vaccine is working, but he publishes in a global impact magazine that it is important, what interests are there so that the vaccine is not bought?”, he asked.
Along the same lines, the director general of the HIVve Libre association, Alaín Pinzón, has considered that the decisions of the health administrations are part of “homophobic policies”.
Furthermore, they explained, the government’s suspicions about the efficacy of the monkeypox vaccine contrast with confidence in Cuban vaccines they have approved against the coronavirus, which do not have WHO approval.
DEFICIENCIES IN MEDICAL ASSISTANCE AND OFFICIAL DATA
González, a doctor in Mexico’s public system, warned of a lack of rapid detection tests and laboratories in which to analyze tests taken from suspicious patients.
“There are many areas of the country that don’t have access to this type of testing. It’s useless for Mexico City to have coverage if there are parts of Oaxaca, Puebla or Guerrero that don’t have it,” he said.
In this regard, Pinzón added that the downward trend in the number of infections could be due to the lack of tests and may not correspond to reality.
NO EXPECTATIONS FOR 2023
In addition, the director of VIHve Libre commented that López-Gatell met with several associations that have led protests against health policies in recent months to inform them that Mexico will not buy the vaccine.
“If Mexico does get the vaccine, it will be through a donation from an international organization or from another country. The health authorities have bet that the groups will get tired, because they will not bring an available vaccine.” he said. EFE extension
llo/ppc/enb
� EFE 2022. The redistribution and redistribution of all or part of the contents of the Efe services is expressly prohibited, without the prior and express consent of Agencia EFE SA
