On the proposal of the Minister of Public Health, Frank Vandenbroucke, the federal government gave the green light on Wednesday to proceed with the European purchase of 1,250 doses of vaccine against monkeypox, an amount sufficient to vaccinate 625 people, announced his cabinet in a press release.
These vaccines will be used more specifically to meet initial needs. The third generation smallpox vaccine “ImvanexTM” is not yet available in Europe. Pending the outcome of ongoing discussions at EU level regarding the allocation of vaccines to Member States and pending the opinion on the use of vaccination from the Belgian National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (NITAG), Belgium has already decided to subscribe to the procedure of the HERA (the new health crisis management authority of the EU) and to buy a small stock of vaccines.
“We want to use these vaccines especially for healthcare providers who are at high risk after exposure because they haven’t used personal protective equipment, for example, or where there is a risk of serious illness.“, says Frank Vandenbroucke (Vooruit), quoted in the press release.
In their latest advice, the Risk Assessment Group (RAG) and the Risk Management Group (RMG) recommend vaccination in a number of cases: after exposure of close contacts at increased risk of severe disease, for healthcare providers who are responding to this epidemic; to control clusters in specific contexts. European HERA will purchase the vaccine on behalf of EU Member States. For Belgium, a prorated share would represent 1,250 doses (to treat 625 people).