Monkeypox vaccination: Lauterbach announces the first vaccine doses – "Not a nice disease"
Created: 05/30/2022, 06:40
Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) sees no risk of a monkeypox pandemic in this country.
© Chris Emil Janssen/Imago
According to the Minister of Health, there is no vaccination concept yet.
The first doses of monkeypox vaccine should come soon.
Berlin – Karl Lauterbach sees no danger of a monkeypox pandemic, but: “Nevertheless, it is not a nice disease.
We need to curb this.
We don't want it to get stuck either," said the Minister of Health in the "Report from Berlin" (
ARD
) of May 29.
The SPD politician said on the show that he expects 40,000 units to be delivered to Germany in the first two weeks of June and a further “200,000 units thereafter”.
A corresponding contract has been signed and the company is still waiting for its response.
Then a vaccination concept for Germany should also be developed.
Monkeypox in Germany: Lauterbach orders a vaccine against smallpox
Monkeypox is endemic in several countries in West and Central Africa, so it occurs there constantly and frequently.
Recently, however, monkeypox was also found in more than 20 other countries - among other things, there were cases of monkeypox in Germany.
Monkeypox is related to smallpox, which killed millions of people every year for centuries until the disease was eradicated in 1980.
However, monkeypox is considerably less dangerous.
Most patients recover within a few weeks, and fatal outcomes are rare.
Lauterbach had already announced that Germany had secured "up to 40,000 doses" of smallpox vaccine.
The vaccine, called Imvanex, was approved for monkeypox in the United States, he said.
It is about being prepared for any vaccinations that may be necessary for contact persons of infected people.
(AFP/dpa/frs)