According to a report by ECO, it was in early July that Portugal received the first doses of the Monkeypox vaccine, acquired by the European Commission to be distributed among the Member States most affected by the outbreak. Now, about a month later, “143 doses have already been administered”, according to an official source from the DGS to ECO.

Thus, only 5% of vaccines were administered. The DGS recalls that “close contacts of confirmed cases are eligible for the vaccine”.

“Ideally, vaccination should be carried out within the first four days after the last close contact with a case, and this period can go up to 14 days if the person remains symptom-free”, indicated the health authority, when the vaccination standard was published.

According to the latest DGS weekly bulletin, as of August 3, 2022, 616 cases of Monkeypox were reported on SINAVEmed. Of these, most belong to the age group between 30 and 39 years (262; 43%) and most cases are male (534; 99.6%).

The DGS “is attentive to the epidemiological situation, both nationally and internationally, monitoring and adapting, when necessary, the implementation of public health measures, namely with regard to vaccination”, an official source told ECO.