By far the most infections in the Netherlands have so far occurred among men who have had sex, or another form of intimate contact, with men. That is why a very specific target group will receive an invitation for a vaccine in the coming weeks.
High-risk groups
Minister Kuipers wrote to the House of Representatives last week that it concerns trans people and men who have sex with men and use PReP (a preventive medicine against HIV) or are on the waiting list for this.
Trans people and men who have sex with men who have been tested for HIV and who have a high risk of an STI, or who are known to the STI clinic because they have a high risk of this, including sex workers, will also receive an invitation.
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In total, this concerns about 32,000 people. Those who have already been vaccinated against smallpox are offered one vaccine, those who are not two, four weeks apart.
Five women, one child
Kuipers wrote in the letter to parliament last week that there were 712 confirmed cases of monkey pox in the Netherlands on 21 July. The vast majority took place among the high-risk groups who now receive an invitation for vaccination, five women are infected and a child of primary school age.
Martijn is getting a vaccine against monkey pox and is looking forward to it:
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For most people, an infection is at most painful and annoying. In the Netherlands, no one has been hospitalized with the virus, in all of Europe there are 200 people and one person ended up in the ICU with it.
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The vaccine against monkey pox
Those who are vaccinated against monkeypox will receive the vaccine Imvanex. That is a vaccine against smallpox, which is also expected to help against the related monkeypox virus. In any case, it does in animals, it has not yet been studied in humans, according to patient information on the site of the GGD Amsterdam.
Because it is also used against smallpox, it is known that the drug is safe, the GGD writes. Also for people with HIV. “It is still unknown how well people are protected in practice after this vaccination.”
The drug is expected to prevent monkeypox infection, because the immune system will produce antibodies against the smallpox virus after vaccination and these will also protect against the monkeypox virus. The product does not contain monkey pox, so it cannot spread or cause the disease.
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