WINNIPEG — Manitobans most at risk of contracting monkeypox will be able to book immunization appointments online starting Monday.
After health experts urged the province to be proactive and offer preventive doses of the vaccine it has had since June, rather than waiting for the virus to emerge here, the Progressive Conservative government issued a press release Friday saying it will expand the criteria for eligibility and will offer it at three sites in Winnipeg.
“It shouldn’t have taken this long,” said NDP health critic Uzoma Asagwara, noting the government didn’t act until it was pressed.
A health worker prepares a monkeypox vaccine in Montreal on July 23. Manitobans most at risk of contracting monkeypox will be able to book immunization appointments online starting Monday. (The Canadian Press)
“I feel very strongly that the government releasing any information is a direct result of the pressure put on them by the public and public health experts,” Asagwara said. The health critic called Friday’s press release “the bare minimum” and questioned why senior health leaders such as Health Secretary Audrey Gordon or Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Brent Rusin did not present the news or answer questions.
On Friday, Gordon declined to answer questions about the rollout — how many doses of the vaccine are available in Manitoba and why the preventative shots weren’t made available sooner. At an unrelated event, she said she would not comment until a press release was issued later in the day.
The release said Manitoba is working with the federal government to secure additional doses of the Imvamune vaccine, but did not say that’s why it will be offering it as a preventative measure rather than just to people who have been exposed to infections.
The province said those who are eligible for the vaccine are at greatest risk of infection – gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men who also meet at least one other requirement:
• You have been diagnosed with chlamydia, gonorrhea and/or syphilis in the last two months.
• You have had two or more sexual partners in the past 21 days.
• You have visited places of sexual contact (such as bathrooms or sex clubs) or plan to do so.
• You have had anonymous sex in the last 21 days or plan to do so.
• Engage in sex work or plan to, as a worker or client.
Starting Monday, classes can be booked online or by phone for people who meet the eligibility criteria. The injection will be available at Clinic Community Health (167 Sherbrook St.), Access Winnipeg West (280 Booth Dr.) and Our Own Health Center (230 Osborne St.).
Anyone can contract monkeypox, which the World Health Organization has declared a global health threat, but so far infections have mostly been reported among men who have sex with men, according to a press release on Friday. So far, there are no confirmed cases in the province.
The province failed to take advantage of that “window of opportunity” before cases were reported in Manitoba to release the vaccine and inform the public, Asagwara said.
“After the pandemic and everything we’ve learned as a result of COVID, it’s inexcusable for the government to continue to be weak and willfully skip important opportunities to be proactive,” said Asagwara, a nurse.
» Winnipeg Free Press
Manitoba Liberal Leader Dugald Lamont asked why it took so long to make the vaccine available to high-risk residents.
“The number of cases is doubling every two weeks, it’s highly contagious … and there’s a vaccine that can prevent it,” said Lamont, who wrote an open letter to the health secretary a week ago urging the government to do more to to prepare for the arrival of the virus.
“Why wait?”
Several provinces have reported cases, including Manitoba’s neighbors Ontario and Saskatchewan.
“We live in a Tier 4 (National Microbiology Laboratory) city and a university with some of the best public health and infectious disease experts in the world, and they were neglected,” Lamont said.
» Winnipeg Free Press
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