Aragon does not plan a “mass vaccination” against monkeypox

There will be no mass vaccination against monkeypox. This was stated by the Director General of Public Health of the Government of Aragon, Nuria Gayán, after participating in the Public Health Commission of the Interterritorial Council of the National Health System (CISNS), held this Wednesday with the heads of the area of ​​all the Autonomous Communities and the Ministry of Health. The injections will be destined for the groups considered at risk and the process will be intensified through Primary Care.

The regions will use the same protocols that were put in place in 2022, when the first case occurred in Spain. However, after the meeting they have agreed to establish “small modifications”, such as intensifying Primary Care with vaccination for very specific risk groups that are being designed. “In a few days they will be specified,” added the general director of Public Health of the DGA.

While the details are being finalised, they insist on the importance of vaccination for “people related to the world of prostitution or those who have more prolific sexual behaviour”. In other words, they will not be given to the general population. They also point out that this is a two-dose regimen injected at an interval of 28 days.

Only in certain situations, “which have not yet occurred”, would Public Health consider establishing new measures. Among the possible crisis scenarios, Gayán pointed out that there would have to be “more cases in some European country of the new variant (clade 1) or that children would fall ill”.

89% OF CASES WERE NOT VACCINATED

According to the Epidemiological Situation report, prepared by the Ministry of Health, 267 cases have been reported in Spain in 2024 and the majority were not vaccinated (89%). None of them occurred in Aragon. 98% were men , more than half were between 30 and 49 years old and were Spanish. In the last two months, seven cases have been reported in the following autonomous communities: Andalusia (three), Castilla y León (one), Extremadura (one), Madrid (one) and the Valencian Community (one).

A very different reality to that experienced in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where so far this year an estimated 15,000 people have been affected and 500 have died. The focus, as well as the international gaze, is on Africa, which is “where action is needed now,” said Gayán.

This sexually transmitted disease continues to show common symptoms: fever, headache and other flu -like pathologies, as well as skin lesions that present exudation (liquid through which MPOX is transmitted). The current situation comes after the mutation of the virus (now clade 1) that increases its spread and the lack of health barriers to deal with it in less developed countries, such as the Congo.