Thailand allocates 21M baht for mpox vaccine for high-risk groups

[webfact]

Thailand’s Department of Disease Control (DDC) has allocated a budget of 21 million baht to purchase 3,000 doses of the mpox vaccine.

 

Dr Thongchai Keeratihattayakorn, director-general of the department, announced that the MVA-BN vaccine from Denmark is expected to arrive in four months and will be administered to high-risk individuals.

 

The vaccine is intended for disease control and is not necessary for the general population. High-risk groups will receive the vaccine under medical guidelines.

 

The first high-risk group includes disease control staff working at international airports, border station health-check units, medical workers, and staff working at laboratories. These individuals fall under the pre-exposure category.

The second group comprises those needing post-exposure prophylaxis, such as people who have had close contact with mpox patients.

 

Since no businesses have applied to import the mpox vaccine in Thailand, the Disease Control Act empowers the department to import medications or vaccines without requiring Food and Drug Administration approval to combat diseases.

 

The MVA-BN vaccine, modified from the smallpox vaccine, might not be 100% effective in preventing infections but could lessen the severity of the illness. Avoiding close contact with people suspected of being infected remains the best preventive measure.

The disease generally does not cause severe illness, except for individuals with severely compromised immune systems, such as those living with HIV/Aids. All 13 deaths in the country have been associated with HIV/Aids patients, reported Bangkok Post.

 

“We’ve found the rate of the disease spreading is very low in the country, with only 833 cases from January 2022 until now, comprising 812 in men and only 21 in women.

 

“Infections happen in the event of very close skin contact for a certain period, and most cases are found among men and sex workers. Hence, it is not necessary to vaccinate everyone.”

 

In related news, in addition to decisions regarding which groups of individuals in the country should receive the mpox (monkeypox) vaccine, Thailand is stepping up its fight against the spread of mpox with new travel regulations aimed at passengers arriving from Africa.

 

by Puntid Tantivangphaisal
Photo courtesy of Bangkok Post

 

Source: The Thaiger 

-- 2024-09-07

 

 

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[RichardColeman]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand’s Department of Disease Control (DDC) has allocated a budget of 21 million baht to purchase 3,000 doses of the mpox vaccine.

surely must be more than 3,000 thai men having sex with gay black men in thailand - which would be the target market

[gomangosteen]

And in Queenstown NZ

 

Warning of Mpox outbreak for Winter Pride attendees

September 07, 2024

 

Anyone who attended Winter Pride is being warned to watch out for symptoms of Mpox because suspected cases of the virus attended the events. The Winter Pride event took place in Queenstown in the last week of August.

 

The Burnett Foundation (formerly NZ Aids Foundation and Ending HIV) said it was asking people to help contain the outbreak. Chief executive Joe Rich said anyone that was at Winter Pride with fever-like symptoms, lesions or spots in the genital area should refrain from sexual contact and get into a sexual health clinic to get tested.

 

"In New Zealand, gay, bisexual men and other men who have sex with men (MSM) are at the greatest risk. That's where we've seen previous outbreaks spreading and the ones that are circulating in Australia are the same."

[timendres]

7,000 THB per vaccine. Someone's making bank.

[Amethyst]

A post with multiple trolling graphic memes has been removed.

 

[john donson]

somebody is making a nice bucks again with the scare...