Morgan Lowrie, The Canadian Press
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MONTREAL — Tourists have lined up in hopes of getting a dose of monkeypox vaccine in Montreal.
Brian Maci was one of many New Yorkers who wanted a dose at an outdoor clinic set up in Montreal’s Gay Village. The man, who was already spending his holidays in the Metropolis, tried his luck because he had been unable to get an appointment at home.
“It’s like trying to buy tickets to a concert,” Maci says of the process in New York to get a vaccine.
In New York, he tried to get an appointment over the internet as soon as the process opened up. After several attempts, he learned that there were no more available.
Once in Montreal, while attending a drag queen show, he heard a notice announcing that vaccines were available in the metropolis, including for tourists.
A vacationing couple from New York told a similar story of how hard it was to get a date in the Big Apple.
“I tried to register, but I was kicked out of the system five or six times before learning that there were no more appointments available, mentions Brad who refuses to give his name of family. We were able to come here and get a shot without getting an appointment. The service has been amazing.”
The City of Montreal offers the vaccine to all men who have had sexual relations with other men as well as to those who have been exposed to the disease.
On Saturday, a dozen health care workers were busy in pink and blue tents set up on Sainte-Catherine Street. They informed those who stopped there to find out about the vaccine. Quebec residents were asked for their health insurance card and tourists for identification.
Dr. Michael Libman, an infectious disease expert from McGill University, says offering the vaccine to tourists as well makes total sense. He deems this to be the right method to stop the spread of monkeypox. “The main problem is not local spread, it’s people spreading the disease from city to city.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared a public health emergency of international concern due to the spread of the disease on the surface of the globe. The disease is currently present in more than 70 countries.
This public health emergency designation is WHO’s highest level of alert, but it does not necessarily mean that the disease involved is highly contagious or deadly.
Similar designations were given to the Zika virus in Latin America in 2016; efforts to eradicate polio; to the current COVID-19 pandemic; and the appearance of the Ebola virus in 2014 in West Africa.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus took the decision to declare a public health emergency despite a lack of consensus among experts on his emergency committee. He says he acted as an arbiter to decide in a shared debate. This is the first time that a WHO boss has taken such a decision without the explicit support of a committee of experts.
Although monkeypox has been present in parts of Central and West Africa for decades, it has now spread far beyond the continent and has affected many more people since the beginning of hatching last May.
Health authorities have detected dozens of outbreaks in Europe, North America and elsewhere on the planet.
In Canada, there were 681 confirmed cases of monkeypox as of Friday, including 331 in Quebec, according to data from the Public Health Agency of Canada. Cases have doubled since July 1, with the first infection in a woman and the first case in Saskatchewan.
The Quebec government said by email on Friday that monkeypox remains “relatively controlled” despite the increase in the number of cases.
The province said it does not know the exact number of doses, of the 13,000 vaccine doses administered, that were injected into tourists.
For Dr Libman, the WHO statement is a call to action for governments to stem the epidemic.
He specifies that if the disease is mainly transmitted among men who have had sexual relations with other men, anyone can catch it by having prolonged contact with an infected person. Respiratory droplets, contact with broken skin, bodily fluids, or even infected clothing or linens could lead to contamination.
Most men waiting for a vaccine said they weren’t worried.
“For me, it’s more a question of prevention, but you never know,” said Mario Thouin, a resident of Drummondville.
Isaiah Hagerman was hesitant to get vaccinated, but the WHO announcement convinced him to go ahead. “If someone had tried to give me a brochure a week ago, I wouldn’t have even paid attention to it.”
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