Almost seven hundred people have been vaccinated against the monkeypox virus in the Brabant region. The vaccination campaigns are free and voluntary and they are provided by the three GGDs in the province.
In May, the monkeypox virus was first diagnosed in the Netherlands. The disease is contagious and is quite mild in the majority of patients. Most people contract the disease after contact with someone who has the virus.
Symptoms after infection
Those who are infected may experience fever, headache, muscle aches, swollen lymph nodes, chills and fatigue. A rash may also develop after a few days. The symptoms disappear within a few weeks.
The disease has been diagnosed in 69 people in Brabant and Zeeland, according to the most recent figures from the National Institute of Public Health and the Environment (RIVM). More than a month ago, Minister Ernst Kuipers of Public Health gave positive advice on vaccinating against monkeypox.
Virologist Jean-Luc Murk of the Elisabeth-TweeSteden Hospital (ETZ) in Tilburg told Omroep Brabant that the monkeypox virus is ‘pretty harmless’, but also that it would be good if risk groups received the vaccine.
Campaigns started
At the end of last month, the GGD Brabant Zuidoost was the first in the province to start with preventive vaccination. The GGD Hart voor Brabant and the GGD West Brabant followed in the first weekend of August. More opportunities to get vaccinated will follow.
The people who have been or will be invited for the vaccination run a high risk of becoming infected, as they fall under the so-called ‘high-risk group’. Most infections are found in men who have intercourse with different men.
Invited by text message or email
The people from the target group are registered with, for example, the GGD West-Brabant or the Center for Sexual Health West-Brabant. As in the working area of the GGD Hart voor Brabant, they are called up by text message to make an appointment.
In the southeast of the province, invitations are sent by e-mail or text message, whether or not via the General Practitioner or the HIV outpatient clinic. Initially there was a free walk-in, but the GGD Brabant-Zuidoost will provide vaccinations by appointment.
‘Good and relaxed’
According to the GGDs, the atmosphere at the vaccination locations is good and relaxed. The people who have been vaccinated were happy that they were invited for this. More than 250 vaccinations have now been administered in Southeast Brabant, several hundred in West Brabant and in the working area of GGD Hart voor Brabant. The vaccine used is Imvanex.
Source: Omroep Brabant
For Eindhoven News: Lila Mehrez
