Belgium to scale up monkeypox vaccination next week

Belgium to scale up monkeypox vaccination next week
Belgium bought doses of a smallpox vaccine, which is effective against monkeypox. Credit: Canva

Belgium is going to scale up its vaccination campaign against monkeypox with a total of 6,000 additional people soon eligible for a vaccine, announced Federal Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke.

The target group has been enlarged thanks to a new technique for administering vaccines along with a loan of 1,500 vaccines from the Netherlands, Vandenbroucke said on Flemish radio on Thursday morning.

"We are really going to be able to strengthen our campaign significantly," he said, adding that the target group would be "just big enough" to administer the vaccines.

Following approval from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and Belgium's Superior Health Council, the vaccine can soon be administered just under the top layer of skin, instead of deeper into the arm tissue. As a result, a smaller dose of the vaccine (one-fifth of the dose used now) is needed, meaning that the same quantity will cover more people.

Additionally, Belgium will receive a loan of 1,500 vaccines from the Netherlands, which replaced its standard stock of smallpox vaccines with third-generation ones that are now being used against monkeypox. When Belgium's order of 30,000 vaccines arrives in autumn, those 1,500 doses will be returned.

Expanding the target group

With the extra vaccines, the target group is being expanded and will now also include men who have sex with men and have had one sexually transmitted disease (STD) in the last year – instead of two. Women who are HIV positive (HIV+) or receiving PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) therapy are also eligible.

The vaccines remain available for male and transgender sex workers, people with severe immune disorders – including uncontrolled HIV infection, immunosuppressed responses to medication (such as after transplantation), malignant blood diseases, congenital immune deficiencies, etc – and a high risk of infection, and laboratory staff who grow the virus.

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From next week, the reference centres will start inviting people they know are eligible to receive the vaccine. People who are not known at a reference centre can contact their GP.

In total, 706 confirmed cases of monkeypox have now been reported in Belgium. At first glance, the downward trend continues in the last three weeks of August, but these figures are not yet definitive because some reports are coming in with a delay, according to virologist Marc Van Ranst.

Last week, the World Health Organisation (WHO) also said there were "encouraging signs" that the outbreak in Europe appeared to be slowing.


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