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To combat the disease MPOX (formerly known as “monkey pox”), French health authorities are recommending a booster vaccination for those most at risk, namely men who have sex with men and sex workers.
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– The High Authority for Health recommends a booster vaccination for those most at risk.
Will we all have to get vaccinated against MPOX (formerly known as “monkey pox») ? While a new clade (or variant) of the virus, called Ib, has appeared in Africa, the High Authority for Health (HAS) published, on Monday, September 2, new vaccination recommendations, as reported by The Parisian. Since the global outbreak in 2022, only those considered most at risk were encouraged to get vaccinated. These include men who have sex with men and report multiple sexual partners, trans people, sex workers and professionals working in places of sexual consumption.
At that time, clade II of the virus was in fact mainly transmitted by sexual intercourseand the vast majority of those infected were homosexual or bisexual men. Today, with clade Ib also being transmitted mainly through sexual intercourse, the HAS “considers that the targets of this vaccination remain unchanged since its previous recommendations”The categories of people for whom two doses of vaccine are recommended therefore remain the same.
Also read: Monkeypox (Mpox): where is the epidemic in Europe?
Vaccination booster for people at risk
“There is no question at this stage of promoting large-scale vaccination, because we think we will follow the same trajectory as two years ago”argued infectious disease specialist Karine Lacombe in the columns of Parisianhoping that the epidemic will eventually disappear thanks to «patient isolation and the vaccination of exposed persons».
In addition, the High Authority for Health encourages people at risk to get a booster dose. “In the absence of an established protection threshold, uncertainties remain regarding the duration of protection induced by the vaccine”she explains. However, the available data “suggest that a booster dose is associated with longer persistence of antibodies than after a simple primary vaccination”. Furthermore, the HAS wishes that people who have had risky contact and those immunocompromised “having had close contact with a person at risk” are also eligible.
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