Ottawa Public Health is holding its first monkeypox vaccine clinic today as part of the health unit’s growing efforts to combat the spread of the virus.
The clinic arrives just over a week after the first confirmed case of smallpox in the city, which arrived on June 10. Since then, this person has recovered and his close contacts have been vaccinated. There are three other suspicious cases in Ottawa.
Over the weekend, OPH administered some of the approximately 100 shots it received from the province to high-risk residents, health doctor Dr. Vera Etches told the city health council Monday night.
Etches said the risk to the general public remains “very low.”
Quebec health authorities confirmed another 30 new cases of monkeypox on Tuesday, bringing the provincial total to 171. There are 21 confirmed cases in Ontario and six in other provinces, according to the Public Health Agency. Canada.
The OPH Clinic starts tonight at 5:30 pm at the Ottawa Baths Club on Wellington Street West. It must last until 20:30 or until stocks run out. Any member of the community who meets the Ottawa Public Health eligibility requirements is welcome and no health card is required.
On Thursday, the Ottawa AIDS Committee held an information session on monkeypox at 6 p.m. with an infectious disease expert.
Most cases of monkeypox have been found in men who have sex with men. Last week, Montreal officials extended the city’s vaccination campaign to all men who have sex with men, and in Toronto, authorities began organizing clinics to immunize high-risk people.
The rare disease comes from the same family of smallpox viruses that the World Health Organization declared eradicated worldwide in 1980.
Smallpox vaccines have been shown to be effective in fighting smallpox virus.
Smallpox is not easily transmitted between people and is transmitted by prolonged close contact through respiratory droplets, direct contact with skin lesions or body fluids, or by contaminated clothing or bedding.
Symptoms may include fever, headache, muscle aches, swollen lymph nodes, chills, exhaustion, and a rash that may look like pimples or blisters.
– With archives of the Canadian press
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