MonkeyPox Vaccine / London

[keefer]

Between covid, lock-downs, elderly parents living with us, monkey pox, and a million other factors - I'm fairly certain I'm again classified as a virgin, and want to correct that before I add retirement to the mix...  but would be happier if I was fully vaccinated...

Any UK-based members have luck getting one or multiple doses of the MonkeyPox vaccine ?   If yes, could you advise how/where/when (or private message me)?  

 

[Guest]

I wouldn't sweat it too much if you can't find the MP vaccine. It looks as though the virus died out in the UK even before it died out in North America:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/monkeypox-outbreak-technical-briefings/investigation-into-monkeypox-outbreak-in-england-technical-briefing-3

In fact, it petered out in all of Europe towards the end of September:

https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/cases-data/technical-report/report-3.html

But be sure to get vaccinated for the flu, omicron, and meningitis, though. 

[Rohit]

What’s the current situation in the UK? Haven’t been vaccinated but looking to meet a provider

[+ ThroatCummer]

You're good.  It died out mostly because "the gays" (read: me! lol) all fucking mobilized because we know how to handle a freaking virus. It's pretty cool on paper to see how it was actually dealt with.  

Don't let my comment diminish your post, please. Definitely find a vaccine, and sorry I can't help there. But I also meant to reassure you that if you can't find one right away, don't let that distract you from your mission. You're probably more likely to get into a car accident and get hurt on the way to meet up with someone than you are from MP. 

Edited March 14, 2023 by ThroatCummer

[keefer]

if you google “monkey pox vaccine walk-in London” you’ll probably find both the NHS and THT vaccine finder site;  I got my first dose three weeks ago, and was able to book at Guys Hospital just 2 days prior; very slick, very efficient... planning to register for my second in approximately 3 weeks 

[Guest]

The virus is essentially eradicated in the UK. There have been 3 cases of MP transmission in the entire UK for 2023 so far:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/monkeypox-outbreak-epidemiological-overview/mpox-monkeypox-outbreak-epidemiological-overview-2-march-2023#:~:text=In 2023 (up to 27,case in a returning traveller).

[Marc in Calif]

What many laypeople forget is that the UK is a destination for millions of visitors and immigrants every year. Here's a more complete (and complex) picture of the situation:

_________________________________

https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/15-02-2023-as-the-mpox--emergency--continues--the-united-kingdom-shows-how-achieving-and-sustaining-disease-elimination-has-to-be-the-next-priority

... Although there has been a decline in cases globally, and a sharp decline in the WHO European Region in particular, the threat from the disease has not gone away. There is still a high risk of mpox being imported from one country to another, both within the European Region and from other regions where infection continues to circulate.

Achieving and sustaining elimination of infection in our region has to be the next priority.

The next step in the United Kingdom’s mpox response: elimination (December 2022)

... Building on this encouraging picture, the UKHSA has now developed an elimination strategy, in collaboration with the United Kingdom’s 4 public health agencies, which it is putting into action over the next 6–12 months.

“Through our strategy we hope to maintain the low number of identified cases and move towards our ultimate goal of eliminating transmission of the disease in the UK, through actions such as vaccinations, rapid and accurate case-finding, robust contact-tracing and global collaboration with international organizations, including WHO,” said Professor Hopkins.
 
Within the comprehensive strategy are 8 key actions that provide a roadmap for achieving the goal of elimination. These are:

1. continuing communications and engagement with those who face the highest risk of exposure to mpox;
2. offering vaccines to those at highest risk during outbreaks and developing the evidence base for a longer-term vaccination programme;
3. ensuring rapid and accurate case-finding;
4. establishing robust contact-tracing;
5. continuing population-level surveillance;
6. continuing global collaboration with international organizations including WHO, to share knowledge and support the global response;
7. implementing infection prevention and control arrangements to prevent transmission in health-care settings;
8. focusing research and evaluation on areas that will direct and improve outbreak response including diagnostics and viral characteristics, epidemiological changes over time, the presence and nature of new symptoms and/or asymptomatic infection and the protective effects of past smallpox vaccination.

[Guest]

The risk of contracting MP in the UK is essentially zero at this time. Even if you had nothing else to worry about, the risk is so infinitesimally small, that your risk of getting run over by a car on your way to get the vaccine is greater than the odds this vaccine will help you. However, this is a vaccine rife with side-effects. It also never has been tested for safety and efficacy vis-a-vis the MP virus. This is no longer the time. 

As for the US, I just went on the CDC website, and I can't see that any cases have been reported in months. The only thing I come up with on their website is the data for the "2022 monkey-pox outbreak".

Edited March 16, 2023 by Unicorn

[keefer]

In spite of the numbers being incredibly low, my personal preference is to proceed with preventions and vaccines if available....  

I was an AIDS buddy in late 80’s through mid 90’s; and was hugely affected by writings such as Jonathan Kwitney’s Acceptable Risks;  we don’t know what viruses are coming next, nor what mutations might occur in mpox ...  each advance in virology is countered by those pesky buggers mutating...  and it’s possible that what’s learnt through current round of vaccinations could help those that follow us whether next year or in a few decades...

considering what else I put in my body on a daily basis I personally think that getting the vaccine is a perfectly acceptable risk....  

at very least might give me the confidence to get out there and play before the next COVID lock down...

Edited March 16, 2023 by keefer

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

If a friend of mine wasn't vaccinated for Monkeypox, I would tell him to enjoy his trip but perhaps avoid the bathhouses since that's where the outbreaks historically originated.

Correction:  That's where the outbreaks outside of Africa originated 

Edited March 16, 2023 by Vegas_nw1982

[Marc in Calif]

6 hours ago, Vegas_nw1982 said:

If a friend of mine wasn't vaccinated for Monkeypox, I would tell him to enjoy his trip but perhaps avoid the bathhouses since that's where the outbreaks historically originated.

In a London bathhouse, he could come into contact with somebody recently arrived from Africa. 

The WHO reported this on 2 March 2023:

In the African region where the infection also occurs through contact with infected animals, the epidemic curve shows more sustained transmission, reflecting mixed patterns of human-to-human transmission through direct or sexual contact as well as outbreaks due to zoonotic spillover events. 

And on 15 February 2023:

The Committee expressed concerns about the possible resurgence of cases in some regions, due to both the potential seasonal differences in the occurrence of infection and particularly in the context of the resumption of events and other mass gatherings in the coming months; the lack of access to vaccines and testing capacities; the recurring zoonotic transmission in Africa; the fact that not all countries are receiving the support they need or have structures or systems to respond to mpox, including inadequate support for marginalized groups; and general fatigue among supporting agencies in view of competing priorities and emergencies.

Edited March 17, 2023 by Marc in Calif

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

While you're inquiring about the Monkeypox vaccine, get the Chickenpox vaccine if you haven't already had the virus as a child.  It's similarly as painful to adults as Monkeypox.

 

 

 

[Monarchy79]

On 3/14/2023 at 4:29 PM, ThroatCummer said:

You're good.  It died out mostly because "the gays" (read: me! lol) all fucking mobilized because we know how to handle a freaking virus. 

Personally I believe that there’s a “twist” to this comment, as I personally believe that we gays mobilized only because the Monkeypox had drastic physical/visual impacts. if Monkeypox didn’t have the side effects of those terrible rashes, it would have grown to Pandemic levels. Gays weren’t mobilized in the name of vigilance. The Gays mobilized in the name of VANITY.

I know this, because I did too. 
I went full on celibate until a month after I got both shots. 

Edited March 19, 2023 by Monarchy79
Typo

[+ ThroatCummer]

16 hours ago, Monarchy79 said:

Gays weren’t mobilized in the name of vigilance. The Gays mobilized in the name of VANITY.

I think you’re right. Because deep down that’s why I got mine too. A friend of mine got it and posted a picture on social media and it looked horrible. I hauled my ass to get a vaccine so fast after that. Yep. 

[Monarchy79]

Further, 

The Monkeypox became somewhat of a “scarlet letter” of diseases, and came along with stigmas. 
 

Catching it, reflected a narrative of being a sexually-irresponsible, reckless deviant. No one wanted to have that image (even if they were all of those things). 
 

Add to that, being quarantined and locked away from one’s livelihood (earning money) scared the crap out of people too. 
 

This was one disease that no one wanted to catch. I’m glad people took it seriously. 

[Monarchy79]

On 3/16/2023 at 2:45 AM, Unicorn said:However, this is a vaccine rife with side-effects. 

I completed my second dose in August of 2022.

The only side effect I had was mild itching (at the site of the shot) for one day, and a scar that faded in three weeks.
 

 

[Guest]

23 hours ago, Monarchy79 said:

Personally I believe that there’s a “twist” to this comment, as I personally believe that we gays mobilized only because the Monkeypox had drastic physical/visual impacts. if Monkeypox didn’t have the side effects of those terrible rashes, it would have grown to Pandemic levels. Gays weren’t mobilized in the name of vigilance. The Gays mobilized in the name of VANITY.

I know this, because I did too. 
I went full on celibate until a month after I got both shots.