Vaccination against monkeypox will continue in France for several more months, in 2022 and probably at the beginning of 2023, the Ministry of Health said on Tuesday, welcoming a mobilization that “is beginning to bear fruit.”
“Global prevention allows for the first time a drop in incidence”, rejoiced during a press conference, Professor Jérôme Salomon, Director General of Health.
His statements echoed those of the World Health Organization, which shortly before considered “encouraging” signs of a slowdown in the monkeypox epidemic in Europe.
If the scientific model points in the direction of a continued reduction in the number of new cases, “we must do everything possible to further reduce the impact of the epidemic”, however, Jérôme Salomon recommended.
70,000 doses administered in France
In France, the latest report shows 3,547 confirmed cases. In number of cases, the country ranks fourth in Europe, but ranks seventh if we relate these cases to the population, explained Laëtitia Huiart, scientific director of Public Health France. 1% of patients had to be hospitalized, a “stable” figure.
“The data suggests that we have passed the peak of contamination, but we remain very cautious,” he said.
In France, 220 vaccination centers have managed to administer 70,000 doses of vaccine to date. “By the end of the week, we will have exceeded 140,000 doses delivered in the field”, detailed Jérôme Salomon.
An offer maintained for several months
“This supply of vaccines must be maintained for several months: certainly in 2022 and early 2023,” he also said.
The vaccination trial in five pharmacies in three regions, which began in early August, is “positive” but “organizational and logistical difficulties persist, with issues of cold, storage” of the vaccine doses, he also indicated.
If we can “advocate a pragmatic scaling up” of the initiative as needed, it is not intended to be widespread. In any case, vaccination alone cannot be enough to stop the epidemic, recalled Jérôme Salomon, who insisted on the importance of prevention and individual and collective behavior.
Health Minister François Braun will bring together “all stakeholders, in particular associations” on September 13, as he had done at the beginning of August, to take stock of the epidemic, he announced in an interview in the Medical Journal. . which will be published this Friday.
Source: BFM TV
