Monkeypox vaccines likely next month end

Aug 25, 2022 News

Kaieteur News – With the country’s first monkeypox case confirmed on Monday, the Government through the Ministry of Health has been in discussion to procure vaccines that can be used to treat persons that have been exposed to someone with virus.

This is according to the Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony who noted during his daily COVID-19 update yesterday that orders have been placed with the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) for a quantity of vaccines which are expected to arrive next month. The Minister noted during his update that while there are about three different anti-retroviral medications being used under emergency use authorization, and noted these medications are not widely available around the world, so very few countries would have access to those medications. “So the medications that are currently used to suppress the virus are not readily available, but once these become available, we will ensure that we have some of it available to patients here in Guyana. The second thing perhaps in treating patients or persons exposed to monkeypox, is to make sure that we can have a vaccine for those persons who are exposed. So we have placed an order with PAHO and we are expecting that we will get some of those vaccines by the end of September,” he explained.

The Minister noted that those vaccines are important because for persons who would have been exposed to anyone with monkeypox they can now get vaccinated. As reported, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the monkeypox virus is an orthopoxvirus that causes a disease with symptoms similar, but less severe, to smallpox. Monkeypox is a disease that is transmitted from animals to humans. The general symptom of monkeypox is a rash. From the time one is exposed to the time of sign of infections, the disease last between 14 to 21 days.

With over 90 countries recording monkeypox cases, Guyana on Monday, confirmed its first ever case which is a 57-year-old man from Region Four. Kaieteur News was told that the man still remains in isolation and the persons who he has been in contact with remain in quarantine.

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