The United Kingdom Health Security Agency is set to offer a monkeypox vaccine to gay and bisexual men who have anonymous group sex, identifying it as one among other risk factors for the exotic illness.
The British agency charged with tracking the outbreak of monkeypox in the UK declared on Tuesday that they were recommending Imvanex, a smallpox vaccine, to be taken by gay and bisexual men who were at a higher risk of exposure to the disease.
Markers of high risk sexual behaviour that would enable one to for receive the monkeypox vaccine are the same as those who receive HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), which include: “a recent history of multiple partners, participating in group sex, attending sex on premises venues or a proxy marker such as recent bacterial STI (in the past year).”
This is merely the latest attempt to flatten monkeypox’s curve in the UK.
“Our extensive contact tracing work has helped to limit the spread of the monkeypox virus, but we are continuing to see a notable proportion of cases in gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men,” said Dr Mary Ramsay, the Head of Immunisation at UKHSA.
As of June 20, there have been 793 cases in the UK, 766 of those being in England, with many cases in gay men seen in the London area.
NHS England will soon release details on who is eligible for the monkeypox vaccine, with the UK government recommending that those who are eligible should wait to be contacted, rather than preemptively coming forward.
While we know anyone can catch monkeypox, we welcome the vaccine being offered to those gay and bi men who are eligible and currently at a higher risk of getting the virus,” said Robbie de Santos, Director of Communications and External Affairs at Stonewall, the LGBT activist organisation.
“It is important that gay and bi men get the vaccine when offered to protect themselves and others,” he added, declaring that they needed to “get the outbreak under control so we can all have a safe and happy pride season.”
Last week, the CDC recommended that people with monkeypox should not have sex, but said if they chose to do so, they should instead consider masturbating six feet apart, having sex fully clothed, and to wash your hands, clothes, and any fetish gear you used directly afterwards.
