Three Brussels hospitals can start vaccinating against monkeypox
Three more hospitals in the capital have been given the green light to start preventative vaccinations against monkeypox. The Risk Management Group has decided that the UZ Brussels in Jette, Saint-Luc in Sint-Lambrechts-Woluwe and the Ersamus Hospital in Anderlecht will be allowed to preventatively administer the vaccine. Previously just one Brussels hospital, Sint-Pieter in the City Centre, was able to do so.
All three hospitals have a reference centre for HIV patients. On Thursday UZ Brussel said that it had received a large number of enquiries from patients about vaccination against monkeypox. Later that day the Risk Management Group decided to act, and all three hospitals will receive supplies of monkeypox vaccine next week.
Preventative vaccination
As things stand the vaccine can be administered to male HIV patients that have contracted a sexually transmittable disease at least twice during the past year. In addition to this group, those that have had a very high-risk contact with an infected person and health workers that come into contact with the virus can also be vaccinated. These are laboratory employees that analyse samples containing the monkeypox virus.
Currently 3,050 monkeypox vaccines have been distributed to 9 reference centres. Of these the Sint-Pieters Hospital in Brussels received 820 doses. The hospital cannot say how many doses have already been administered. However, a spokesperson for the hospital told the Brussels regional news platform Bruzz that "The vast majority has gone to patients”. A further 30,000 doses of the vaccine are expected in Belgium in the autumn.
