Three weeks “at least” this is the current deadline for getting vaccinated once morest monkey pox at the CEGIDD in Montpellier. The Center for Information, Screening and Diagnosis is one of the main points of vaccinations, today unable to meet the demand. In Occitania, there are more than 150 recorded cases of monkey pox (Monkeypox), making it the second most affected region in France following Ile de France.
An “unsatisfactory” deadline
“This 3-week period is not satisfactory because at CEGID, we vaccinate today between 25 and 40 people a day but we would like to do a lot more to be effective”, notes Cyril Perrollaz, the doctor responsible for vaccination. Under these conditions, and while France has more than 2,000 patients, he is convinced that “everything cannot rely on the vaccine to limit the spread of the virus”.
There are two reasons for this. First of “doses that come drop by drop” and too few staff with the summer holidays. Two factors which result, according to this doctor, from a “ignition delay” in the organization of the vaccination policy.
As a result, the exposure period lengthens. Cyril Perrollaz therefore recommends “limit the number of sexual partners to limit the risk of contamination (by skin to skin and bodily fluids, editor’s note)”. Advice that primarily concerns men who have sex with other men. The latter represent 96% of patients according to Public Health France.
Mobilize pharmacies
In an attempt to speed up the schedule, several associations have also been mobilized. This is the case of Spot, a sexual health center managed by the AIDES association which has just received a grant of 30,000 euros from the city of Montpellier to carry out these injections. In a few days, there will be 200 slots open each week, but once more this is below the needs according to Vincent Péchenot, the center coordinator. “We need to vaccinate several thousand people, and to achieve this we ask that pharmacies can also vaccinate”. A measurement “efficient” et “easy to implement”he presses.
To be completely effective, it is necessary in any case to realize two doses of vaccine at 28 days apart.
