Manitoba employs the monkeypox vaccination strategy

WINNIPEG – Manitobans who are most at risk of contracting monkeypox will be able to book online vaccination appointments starting Monday.

After health experts urged the province to be proactive and offer preventative 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 on Friday saying it they will expand the eligibility criteria and offer at three locations in Winnipeg.

“It shouldn’t have taken this long,” said NDP health critic Uzoma Asagwara, noting that the government did not act until pressed to do so.

A health care worker prepares a monkeypox vaccine in Montreal on July 23. People from Manitoban who are most at risk of contracting monkeypox will be able to book online vaccination appointments starting Monday. (The Canadian Press)

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“I strongly believe that the government’s release of information is a direct result of the pressure it is being put under by the public and public health experts,” Asagwara said. The health critic called Friday’s press release “the bare minimum” and questioned why high-profile health workers like Health Secretary Audrey Gordon or Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Brent Roussin not presenting the news and answering questions.

On Friday, Gordon declined to answer questions about the rollout — how many doses of vaccine Manitoba has and why preventive shots weren’t made available sooner. At an independent event, she said she would not comment until a press release was issued later in the day.

The announcement said Manitoba was working with the federal government to secure additional doses of the Imvamune vaccine, but did not indicate that is why it will be offering it preventively rather than just to people who have been exposed to infection.

The province said those who are eligible for the vaccine are most at risk of infection — gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men who also meet at least one other requirement:

• have been diagnosed with chlamydia, gonorrhea and/or syphilis within the past two months.

• Had two or more sexual partners in the past 21 days.

• Have visited or plan to visit places for sexual contact (such as bathhouses or sex clubs).

• have had or plan to have anonymous sex in the last 21 days.

• Engaging in or planning to engage in sex work, either as a worker or as a client.

From Monday, people who meet the admission criteria can book appointments online or by telephone. Admissions are offered 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 infections so far have mainly been reported in men who have sex with men, Friday’s news release said. So far there have been no confirmed cases in the province.

The province did not use this “window of opportunity” before cases were reported in Manitoba to roll out the vaccine and inform the public, Asagwara said.

“Following the pandemic and everything we have learned as a result of COVID, it is inexcusable that the government continues to respond poorly, intentionally skipping important opportunities to be proactive,” said Asagwara, a registered nurse.

»Winnipeg Free Press

Manitoba Liberal leader Dougald Lamont questioned why it took so long to get 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 that,” said Lamont, who wrote an open letter to the health secretary a week ago urging the government to better prepare for the arrival of the virus.

“Why wait?”

Several provinces have reported cases, including neighbors Manitoba, Ontario and Saskatchewan.

“We live in a city with a Level 4 (National Microbiology Laboratory) and university with some of the best public health and infectious disease experts in the world, and they’ve been ignored,” Lamont said.

»Winnipeg Free Press