In France, 232 vaccination sites are already open to deal with the MPOX epidemic, resigning Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said on Tuesday, while promising 100,000 doses of vaccines to the most affected countries.
"We are ready to face all scenarios and all risks," he wrote on X (ex-twitter). On Friday, he announced the placement of the French health system in a "state of maximum vigilance."
A new meeting was held at Matignon on Monday afternoon. To date, no contamination by clade 1, more deadly and virulent than clade 2, has yet been recorded in France, the government specified in the evening.
In Europe, Sweden has announced that it has recorded a case of subtype clade 1b, which recently appeared in Africa, and France expects cases to appear on its territory soon.
The Pasteur Institute said on Monday that it was ready to "test and vaccinate patients at the request of the French authorities."
"232 vaccination sites are already open across the territory. And many more will be available," said Gabriel Attal.
"As requested by the President of the Republic, France will donate 100,000 doses of vaccine," he also indicated. "These doses will be distributed via the European Union to regions where the virus is circulating strongly." These donations will "strengthen the current European effort by almost 50%."
Last week, the African Union's health agency Africa CDC announced that some 200,000 doses would be deployed in Africa, thanks to an agreement with the European Union (EU) and the Danish pharmaceutical laboratory Bavarian Nordic, whose vaccine for the prevention of the disease has been approved since 2019.
"At my request, the Ministry of Health has contacted the High Authority for Health to update its vaccination recommendations by the end of August," Mr. Attal added.
In its latest opinion dated January 2023, the HAS recommended vaccination only for people who had been in contact with sick people if the number of cases remained “isolated or scattered”.
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