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Public Health Sudbury and Districts offers a monkeypox vaccine to those who are eligible.
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“Imvamune is currently being used … in Ontario for people in locations with confirmed cases,” Dr. Penny Sutcliffe, the region’s health officer, said in a letter.
“Given the limited supply of this vaccine, Ontario is using a ring vaccination approach. Eligible individuals are offered one dose of Imvamune or two doses if the eligible individual is immunocompromised.”
Public Health’s Elm Place office in Sudbury (10 Elm St., Unit 130) and Réseau ACCESS Network will provide, by appointment, Imvamune to eligible individuals who wish to receive the vaccine. Public Health will also coordinate to ensure that it is accessible throughout its catchment area, as needed.
Those eligible for a vaccine include trans or cisgender people who identify as gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men if at least one of the following conditions applies:
- Have received a diagnosis of a sexually transmitted bacterial infection (such as chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis) in the past two months. You have had two or more sexual partners in the past 21 days or you may plan to have sex.
- They have attended places of sexual contact in the last 21 days (such as bathrooms, sex clubs) or may be planning to do so, or who work or volunteer in such settings.
- You’ve had anonymous sex in the last 21 days (for example, using ‘hookup’) apps, or you may be planning to do so.
- Participating in sex work or planning it and your sexual contacts.
Also, people who are immunocompromised, pregnant, or breastfeeding may be at higher risk of serious illness from a monkeypox infection. These individuals should contact Public Health to consider vaccination if they are at risk of contracting monkeypox.
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Eligible individuals should call Public Health at 705.522.9200, ext. 482, (toll free 1-866-522-9200) or Réseau ACCESS Network at 705-688-0500.
For information on case and contact management, contact the Infectious Disease Control program at 705-522-9200, ext. 772 (toll free 1-866-522-9200).
Sudbury has only recorded one case of the virus so far, but the World Health Organization declared monkeypox a global health emergency on July 23.
The once-rare disease has been established in parts of central and western Africa for decades, but it was not known to trigger large outbreaks beyond the continent or spread widely among people until May, when authorities detected dozens of outbreaks in Europe, North America and elsewhere. .
So far, more than 22,000 cases of monkeypox have been reported in nearly 80 countries since May, with about 75 suspected deaths in Africa, mainly in Nigeria and Congo. On Friday, Brazil and Spain reported monkeypox-related deaths, the first to be reported outside Africa. Spain reported a second smallpox death on Saturday.
The virus is spread through close and prolonged skin-to-skin contact, as well as sharing bedding, towels and clothing. In Europe and North America, it has spread mainly among men who have sex with men, although health officials stress that the virus can infect anyone.
The type of monkeypox virus identified in this outbreak is rarely fatal, and people usually recover within a few weeks. But the lesions and blisters caused by the virus are painful.
– with Associated Press archives
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