Category: Monkey Pox Vaccine

Monkeypox is a disease caused by the monkeypox virus. It spreads through close, personal, often skin-to-skin contact.

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Cases as of November 17, 2022

Confirmed cases in BC: 183Health authorities with cases:

Epidemiologicaldata are summarized to provide an understanding of the population(s) affected by monkeypox transmission and potential exposures to support the response.

B.C. is working closely with federal and provincial partners to stop the spread of monkeypox.

While most, but not all, recent global infections are among men who identify as gay, bisexual, or other men who have sex with other men, the virus can affect anyone through close person-to-person contact. Most cases in the current outbreak have occurred from close, intimate contact during sex. The risk to the general population in B.C. is considered low.

We will update this information as we learn more about the current outbreak.

Monkeypox can spread from animals to humans, from person to person and through contact with objects that have been used by someone with monkeypox.

Monkeypox spreads through close, personal, often skin-to-skin contact, including through:

Most cases in the current outbreak have been passed from person to person during close, intimate contact during sex.

Monkeypox can present in different ways. Most people experience symptoms thatlast 2 to 4 weeks and occur in two stages.

In the first stage, symptoms can include:

The second stage usually starts 1 to 5 days after the first stage.

In the second stage, a rash (sores/blisters) develops.

Some people experience symptoms differently. For example:

some may experience first stage symptoms after the appearance of sores

some can have a small number of sores on one or a few body parts, sometimes only in the mouth or genital areas.

Image credit: United Kingdom

Public health is reaching out to known contacts of the cases at risk of developing the infection.

Please note: Public health does not use pre-recorded or automated calls to notify individuals of infections or possibleexposure to monkeypox or other communicable diseases. If you receive one of these scam calls, do not engage and do notprovide personal information over the phone.

If monkeypox is confirmed, public health will contact you to give more instructions. Monkeypox is usually a mild illness and most people recover on their own after a few weeks. However, some people may experience moderate or severe disease, and will need to see their healthcare provider. People experiencing more severe disease may require medications to manage pain or skin infections, or in rare cases, need other supportive treatment in hospital.

Please see your healthcare provider or go to your nearest Urgent Primary Care Centre or Emergency Department if you experience the following after testing positive for monkeypox:

There are no well-established treatments for monkeypox. Antiviral medication may be considered on a case-by-case basis.

A supply of vaccine that protects against monkeypox has been made available to BC by the federal government and vaccination has been offered to at-risk populations since June 2022. The vaccine, called IMVAMUNE, is given in a series of two doses given 28 or more days apart. It can be given following a recognized exposure to infection (ideally within 4 days) to provide protection against monkeypox, or can be given in advance of an exposure. It helps your body build immunity.

People who are eligible can now book first or second dose appointments.

Eligibility for the vaccine in BC has been guided by information about people who have acquired this infection. Should the characteristics of these people change as transmission continues to occur, the eligibility may be adjusted accordingly.

Use of this vaccine to control the outbreak of monkeypox in BC has been successful in bringing cases to a low number. As of October 2022, small numbers of infections continue to occur each week among unvaccinated eligible individuals which is why they continue to be encouraged to get vaccinated.

The vaccine can be used two ways

Two-Spirit and transgender people andcisgender males whoself-identify as belonging to the gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men community.

The vaccine is not available to individuals of any gender who are not part of the community of gay, bisexual and other men who have sex men, unless they have been identified as a close contact of a confirmed case.

Misidentifying oneself as eligible for monkeypox vaccine directs this critical tool away from people most at risk, and limits its utility in preventing onward transmission, and from protecting the wider population from a bigger outbreak.

Due to limited supply, this vaccine is intended for residents of Canada or those visiting B.C. for prolonged periods of time. People from outside Canada should not travel to B.C.vaccine clinics for immunization; we cannot provide the vaccine to those visiting the province for the purpose of being vaccinated. Please contact your local Public Health unit for information about receiving monkeypox vaccine.

Imvamune is given in a series of two doses. You must wait at least 28 days after your first dose to get your second dose.

Subcutaneous or intradermal injection

To ensure there is enough vaccine to offer second doses to all who are eligible, a second dose will be offered one of two ways: subcutaneous injection or intradermal injection.

To learn more about vaccinations, eligibility criteriaand to book an appointment, refer toyour region:

Appointments are added regularly. If there are no available appointments, please check back.

This document provides suggestions for event organizers, business owners, community organizations and leaders to help prevent spread as people gather to celebrate during the Pride festival season. It includes information about:

Learn more: Monkeypox Guidance for Events during Pride Festival Season

Most of the recent monkeypox cases are happening through close contacts between men who identify as having sex with other men.

Stigmatizing people because of a disease is never okay. Anyone can get or pass on monkeypox, regardless of their sexuality.

Be aware of the monkeypox situation in the places you visit and take the same precautions you would use at home. Some people have been exposed or got monkeypox from close contact during sexual activity while travelling.

Domestic travel

International travel

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Monkeypox - British Columbia Centre for Disease Control

Savage Love: My Husband Got the Monkeypox Vaccine, Is He Cheating?  qcnerve.com

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Savage Love: My Husband Got the Monkeypox Vaccine, Is He Cheating? - qcnerve.com

Monkeypox (MPX) is a rare, but potentially serious viral illness that can be transmitted from person to person through direct contact with body fluid or monkeypox lesions.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed the first U.S. monkeypox case on May 18, 2022. In May 2022, Massachusetts confirmed a monkeypox case in a patient with recent travel to Canada; Texas and Maryland each reported a case in 2021 in people with recent travel to Nigeria. Since early May 2022, the United Kingdom has identified nine cases of monkeypox; the first case had recently traveled to Nigeria. None of the other cases have reported recent travel.

On May 26, 2022, DC Health issued a Health Notice for District of Columbia Health Care Providers with clinical recommendations and reporting requirements for any suspected cases.

On June 4, 2022, the DC Public Health Lab confirmed the first positive Orthopoxvirus case in a District resident who reported recent travel to Europe.

On September 22, 2022, DC Health announced the updatedeligibility criteria for monkeypox vaccinations in the District.

Beginning October 15, the monkeypox clinics will merge and collocate with the COVID Centers in Wards 2, 3 and 8.

New DC Health Service Center locations and hours:

The data is updated on Wednesdays. For additional data points on DC cases, click here.

Monkeypox was first discovered in 1958 when two outbreaks of a pox-like disease occurred in colonies of monkeys kept for research. The first human case of monkeypox was recorded in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of Congo during a concentrated effort to eliminate smallpox. Since then, monkeypox has been reported in people in several other central and western African countries.

Monkeypox cases in people have occurred outside of Africa linked to international travel or imported animals, including cases in the US.

In humans, the symptoms of monkeypox can be similar to but milder than the symptoms of smallpox.

Symptoms can begin with:

Within 13 days (sometimes longer) after the appearance of fever, the patient develops a rash, often beginning on the face and then spreading to other parts of the body. The rash can progress from being flat and red, to being a bump, to being fluid-filled, to being pus-filled, and then to being a scab.

Symptoms usually appear between 714 days after exposure but can range between 521 days. The illness typically lasts between 24 weeks.

Monkeypox virus can spread when a person comes into contact with the virus from an infected animal, infected person, or materials contaminated with the virus. Monkeypox virus may spread from animals to people through the bite or scratch of an infected animal, by handling wild game, or through the use of products made from infected animals. The virus may also spread through direct contact with body fluids or sores on an infected person or with materials that have touched body fluids or sores, such as clothing or linens.

Monkeypox spreads between people primarily through direct contact with infectious sores, scabs, or body fluids. It also can be spread by respiratory secretions during prolonged, face-to-face contact. Monkeypox can spread during intimate contact between people, including during sex, as well as activities like kissing, cuddling, or touching parts of the body with monkeypox sores.

There are a number of measures that be taken to prevent infection with monkeypox virus:

There are no treatments specifically for monkeypox virus infections. However, monkeypox and smallpox viruses are genetically similar, which means that antiviral drugs and vaccines developed to protect against smallpox may be used to prevent and treat monkeypox virus infections.

JYNNEOSTM (also known as Imvamune or Imvanex) is an attenuated live virus vaccine which has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the prevention of monkeypox.

If you have symptoms of monkeypox, you should talk to your healthcare provider, even if you dont think you had contact with someone who has monkeypox.

Those eligible for the monkeypox vaccine include individuals who meet one of the following criteria:

The George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences is recruiting volunteers for a monkeypox vaccine clinical trial. Learn more at gwvru.smhs.gwu.edu, or contact (202) 994-1599.

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Monkeypox | doh - Washington, D.C.

NEW YORK (AP) U.S. officials are considering broadening recommendations for who gets vaccinated against monkeypox, possibly to include many men with HIV or those recently diagnosed with other sexually transmitted diseases.

Driving the discussion is a study released Thursday showing that a higher-than-expected share of monkeypox infections are in people with other sexually transmitted infections.

Dr. John T. Brooks, chief medical officer for the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions monkeypox outbreak response, said the report represents a call to action.

Brooks told The Associated Press on Thursday that he expected vaccine recommendations to expand and that the White House, together with CDC, are working on a plan for what that will look like.

Currently, the CDC recommends the vaccine to people who are a close contact of someone who has monkeypox; people who know a sexual partner was diagnosed in the past two weeks; and gay or bisexual men who had multiple sexual partners in the last two weeks in an area with known virus spread.

Shots are also recommended for health care workers at high risk of exposure.

The vast majority of monkeypox cases are in men who have sex with men who reported close contact with an infected person during sex. But the new CDC report suggested infections in people with HIV and other STDs may be a bigger issue then previously realized.

The report looked at about 2,000 monkeypox cases from four states and four cities from mid-May to late July.

It found 38% of those with monkeypox infections had been diagnosed with HIV, far higher than their share of the population among men who have sex with men.

The study also found that 41% of monkeypox patients had been diagnosed with an STD in the preceding year. And about 10% of those patients had been diagnosed with three or more different STDs in the prior year.

There were racial differences. More than 60% of Black Americans with monkeypox had HIV, compared with 41% of Hispanic people, 28% of whites and 22% of Asians.

Jason Farley, an infectious disease expert at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, said men of color who have sex with men should be at the front of the line for monkeypox vaccine doses. Within those racial and ethnic groups, the next priority should be anyone living with HIV or was recently diagnosed with a STD, he said.

The study has several limitations, including that the data may not be nationally representative, the authors said.

Brooks said the findings could lead to vaccines being recommended for people with recent STD infections, people with HIV, people taking pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) medications to prevent HIV infection and, possibly, prostitutes.

Discussions of expanding eligibility will have to take into account supply of the two-dose vaccine. And any substantial expansion of monkeypox vaccination recommendations may also be subject to review by CDCs outside vaccine advisers, health officials say.

Also on Thursday, the CDC sent a letter to state and local health departments that said federal funds for HIV and STD prevention can also now be used against monkeypox. Cases in the U.S. seem to be declining, officials say.

___

The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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US may expand monkeypox vaccine eligibility to men with HIV

Africa faces another vaccine apartheid in the fight against monkeypox  Mmegi Online

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Africa faces another vaccine apartheid in the fight against monkeypox - Mmegi Online

WASHINGTON, D.C. The Pentagon has announced they will be making the new Monkeypox vaccine mandatory, but just for the Navy.

"After careful research into how Monkeypox is spread, we have determined the Navy to be at dire risk," said Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. "The other branches, meh - should be fine."

The Pentagon became aware of the acute danger Monkeypox presented after the entire crew of the U.S.S. Harvey Milk tested positive last week. "That ship is something out of a nightmare, it's like a haunted house right now," said physician Dr. Ryan Walter. "We heard reports of the first case last week, then all of a sudden - boom! The whole ship goes down. Quite the medical mystery."

The new mandate comes on the heels of the Defense Department losing tens of thousands of soldiers who declined the COVID vaccine. "In a time of historic recruitment struggles, we remain committed to losing even more desperately needed servicemen," said Secretary Austin. "Any mandate we can put in place to further weaken military readiness, we are there. Let's be real though, the Navy actually needs this Monkeypox shot."

At publishing time, Navy servicemen had replied to the mandate saying it's "not funny" and that no one will obey any more orders from Secretary Austin "until he takes off that stupid face shield".

Can this liberal California couple handle a Texas cookout?

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Pentagon Mandates Monkeypox Vaccine, But Only For Navy

The transition from Monkeypox Inoculation Plan A to Monkeypox Inoculation Plan B has been a smashing successat least, if you ask federal officials. Just a few weeks ago, the U.S. had nowhere near enough of the Jynneos vaccine to doubly dose even a quarter of the Americans at highest risk of monkeypox, roughly 1.6 million men who have sex with men. Now that the administration has asked that every dose of Jynneos be split into five and delivered a different way, between the layers of the skin, the party line has changed. Everyone that wants to get vaccinated within that group is going to have an opportunity to get vaccinated by Septembers end, Robert Fenton, the White Houses monkeypox czar, said on a podcast last week.

But this new strategy of intradermal dosing is a gamble, says Caitlin Rivers, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins, and its weaknesses are already beginning to show. It may be high time to start acting on a fallback plan for our fallback plan, should Plan Bs high-stakes wager not pay off.

Read: Americas new monkeypox strategy rests on a single study

The Plan Cs on the table arent very palatablewhich is probably why theyre Plan Cs. One option, largely dismissed early on, could entail turning to ACAM2000, a hypereffective smallpox shot, with sometimes dangerous side effects, that the U.S. has stockpiled in spades. Already, three jurisdictions, including the state of California, have ordered more than 800 doses of ACAM from the government, according to Timothy Granholm, a spokesperson for HHS.

Simply anticipating the possibility of Plan Bs failure might count as atypical for modern American public healthgetting ahead of the virus du jour, rather than taking a reactive stance, says Stella Safo, an HIV physician in New York. Too often in the past few years, the institutions of public health have observed rather than acted, allowing SARS-CoV-2, and now monkeypox, to run roughshod over the American populace. It would be really nice to not be saying, Lets wait and see, Safo told me. ACAM2000 may not be the countrys best or safest option for curtailing monkeypox, but the risk of not considering it may soon outweigh the risks of the shot itself.

Theres a world in which the U.S. didnt even need a Monkeypox Inoculation Plan B. Had U.S. leaders been willing to invest resources in heading off the pathogen, by offering aid to countries where the virus has been endemic for decades or by focusing earlier this year on tests, treatments, vaccines, and public communications, maybe Americas original immunization planusing the full, subcutaneous Jynneos dosewould have been all the nation needed on the injection front.

That didnt happen, and instead the country adopted intradermal delivery, without real clarity on how well such doses might guard against infection, transmission, or disease. The notion that intradermal shots will work as hoped rests on a chain of assumptions, says John Beigel, an immunologist at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, several of which may not hold during a large, fast-spreading outbreak thats tightly linked to sexa poorly studied form of monkeypox transmission. Jynneoss original approval was based on an antibody analogue of protection, rather than efficacy against bona fide illness. And the FDAs authorization of intradermal shots rests on a single study, which didnt directly check the vaccines ability to stave off disease, either. The study also enrolled only healthy adults, most of them whitea poor reflection of the population now being hit. Its a big leap to build a nationwide vaccine campaign on just those results, says Sri Edupuganti, a vaccinologist at Emory University and one of the studys authors. (Beigel is now designing a clinical trial that will reevaluate the intradermal route among participants more relevant to the current outbreak. He and his team will also test one-tenth intradermal doses, which could further stretch supply.)

Read: America should have been able to handle monkeypox

The intradermal plan has logistical challenges, too. Administering in-skin shots requires extra training and special needles, burdening already stressed staff, especially in low-resource regions. Several jurisdictions are struggling to extract more than three or four doses from some vials, rather than the governments promised fivea shortchanging of those hoping to increase their stocks by a clean 400 percent. Plus, some bottle caps are breaking before all the doses are withdrawn. Intradermal vaccination can also come with grating side effects, including redness and swelling that can stick around for days, potentially deterring people from returning for the essential second shot.

Fenton, from the White House, noted in a press briefing last week that the switch to intradermal increased our supplies significantly without compromising safety or effectiveness. But that assertion seems disingenuous at best, says Gregg Gonsalves, an epidemiologist and AIDS activist at Yales School of Public Health. Even the CEO of Bavarian Nordic, the vaccines manufacturer, criticized the FDAs pivot as too hasty. (The FDA attempted to counter the companys criticisms.)

Meanwhile, demand may continue to grow, especially if the epidemic starts to concentrate less among men who have sex with men. The longer the outbreak lasts, the longer you have for jumping to other populations, Gonsalves told me. College campuses, reopening now, seem like the most obvious next stop. And if this gets into other networks, says Ina Park, a sexual-health expert at UC San Francisco, Plan B just wont be enough.

Equity, too, is becoming an issue. If we lived in a world where we had plenty of vaccine, you would go with subcutaneous, Beigel told me. But in North Carolina, for instance, where 70 percent of monkeypox cases have been among Black men, some two-thirds of the subcutaneous shots administered before August 8 went to people who are white; similar skews have been noted in New York City. Now Black and brown gay men are really angry, says Kenyon Farrow, a writer and public-health activist based in Ohio. They watched white gay men get full doses and now they feel like they are getting less of a dose. Farrow has pushed for everyone to get at least one subcutaneous shota strategy that advocates in New York City also backbut the Biden administration seems set on moving all jurisdictions onto the intradermal route.

Mapping out yet another vaccination strategy wont address all of these problems. (And no matter what, the administration should keep ordering more Jynneos, stat.) But the forecast for fall is murky. And should the present situation worsen, a fresh tactic could give the U.S. a head startsomething the country hasnt had on the public-health playing field in a while.

Already, some experts are mulling the nuclear option: ACAM2000, the smallpox shot that the government has been hoarding to counter a potential bioterrorism attack. Doses of the vaccine are available by the many millions, and thought to be both effective and durable. Its also, Edupuganti told me, one of the vaccines with the highest amount of adverse reactions, occasionally triggering side effects as serious as heart inflammation. The shot contains a replicating virus, and shouldnt be taken by immunocompromised people, including many of those who are living with HIV. And just about everyone who gets the shot sprouts an oozy lesion at the injection site that can pass the vaccine virus to others. Against something like smallpoxa far more contagious virus that killed up to 30 percent of its victimsACAM2000 would be a no-brainer, says Rafi Ahmed, a vaccinologist at Emory University. With monkeypox, though, Johns Hopkinss Rivers told me, the risk-benefit calculation is really hazy.

Read: What should worry most Americans about our monkeypox response

Its not time to trot out ACAM yet, Safo, the New York physician, told me. But maybe autumn will bring many more cases. Maybe monkeypoxs symptoms could grow more severe. Maybe the virus will start to surge in new populations. Maybe intradermal Jynneos will fall short in effectiveness or safety. In any case, containment with the current tools isnt a guarantee. If things do get out of control, Ahmed told me, you want to have some ACAM stocks ready to go. No clear, perfect threshold can yet denote out of control. Still, a trend toward a worse outbreak would inch the country closer to tapping into its ACAM2000 supply, Park told me: I dont think we have another choice. Which means that the FDA and CDC should probably start poring over the ACAM data now, Rivers said.

Resorting to ACAM2000 will also put the onus on officials to explain to the public what theyre getting into. If some are balking at intradermal shots, people further back in line could reasonably wonder why theyve been stuck with a less-safe vaccine, Farrow pointed out. There could be a middle ground worth testing in a clinical trial: one shot of Jynneos, via either administration route, followed by a dose of ACAM2000, says Stephen Goldstein, a virologist at the University of Utah. One 2019 study hints that this shot, chaser approach could shrink infectious lesions, as well as cut down on ACAM2000s side effects, while still offering an immunological boostthough that trial used two subcutaneous Jynneos doses first. In any case, the government would do well to pursue more options, even enroll people in trials comparing the different vaccines, Gonsalves told me. And transparency is tantamount. Back in the days of AIDS, he said, many of us were saying, as new drugs were coming online, we wanted access and answers about the options at hand. Right now, the nations short on both.

That were even having to ask these questions about ACAM, Farrow told me, is a sobering reminder that we didnt get our shit together early on. Instead, the U.S. has backed itself into having to reckon with its appetite for risk. Being too cautious with vaccines could allow the outbreak to further balloon; being too reckless with shots could compromise public trust. The administration firmly contends that Jynneos remains the best available option, according to Granholm, the HHS spokesman. (That said, ACAM2000 is available upon request, he told me.)

Such a position may feel like the safe oneit potentially sidesteps the gnarliness of ACAM. But perhaps its actually dicier, because its not properly preparative. We cant just say intradermal is going to solve all of our problems, Park told me. Although the hope is that the countrys ACAM supply can stay stashed away, we need to be ready to use it, and quickly, should the need arise. If the country once again waits until were in a pinch to act, Rivers told me, its going to be too late.

Excerpt from:

A Risky Monkeypox Vaccine Is Looking Better All the Time

CDC: Monkeypox vaccine reaching more members of minority groups  CIDRAP

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CDC: Monkeypox vaccine reaching more members of minority groups - CIDRAP

How Well Does the Monkeypox Vaccine Work?  POZ

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How Well Does the Monkeypox Vaccine Work? - POZ

Here's who is eligible and where to get the monkeypox vaccine in St. Louis region  KSDK.com

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Here's who is eligible and where to get the monkeypox vaccine in St. Louis region - KSDK.com