Within the gay community there are concerns about the rate at which the GGD is vaccinating against monkey pox. Since the beginning of this week, a hundred men from the risk group have been invited every day for such a jab. “My biggest concern is that the outbreak is not contained and that we will be blamed for it,” said one of them.
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Most infections in the Netherlands have so far been found in men who have varying sexual contacts with other men. This is therefore one of the risk groups that can receive a vaccination since Monday.
“I hear plenty of people around me who now have monkey pox and have been asking for a vaccine for a long time. So for many it comes too late actually,” says a man who just got his shot at the Rai.
Stigmatization
Due to the pace of the GGD, some are concerned that a further outbreak will stigmatize gay and bisexual men, especially if more children contract the virus in the future. “My main concern is that the vaccination is taking way too slow and that this way the outbreak is not contained, and that we will be blamed for it.”
That fear is reinforced by the Pride that starts next Saturday. “In recent weeks there has been a lot of warning in the news about the Pride being an event where a lot of spread could take place. (The fear is, ed.) that it will actually happen and that people will say: ‘See? , indeed the gays did it’.”
“raised all sails”
The GGD expects to be able to vaccinate more people per day in the short term. On Monday, fifty people were invited for a vaccination, since Tuesday there have been a hundred a day and from next week two hundred a day. From there, we scale up further. However, the GGD emphasizes that everything remains dependent on the availability of staff.
“We understand that everyone wants to be vaccinated as soon as possible,” said a spokesperson for the GGD in a response to AT5. “We have pulled out all the stops to do this as quickly as possible. However, we want this to be done carefully and we are dealing with less availability of, for example, staff in summer time.”
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