MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is working with the United States government to secure vaccines against monkeypox, the Department of Health (DOH) said Friday.
DOH’s Dr. Beverly Ho said this after the first case of monkeypox was recorded in the country.
“Our discussions are ongoing… We’re working with the US government to secure the vaccines. There’s not a lot that’s available in the market,” Ho said in a press briefing.
“Also, it’s only a select population group that will have to be vaccinated. Again, it’s not like COVID-19 that all of us need to be vaccinated,” she added.
FILE PHOTO: Test tubes labelled “Monkeypox virus positive” are seen in this illustration taken May 23, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic
Ho assured that all systems are in place to fight monkeypox.
“We all need to work together. We also need the public to be vigilant, particularly the key population groups who are at most risk,” Ho said.
“Based on what we know about monkeypox, lifestyle. There is a very clear need to be more careful about who we interact with, particularly sexual, intimate contact,” she added.
Ho said the first monkeypox case in the country is a 31-year-old Filipino who arrived from abroad last July 19. She added that the case had prior travel to countries with documented monkeypox cases.
Ho said the case was tested and confirmed positive for monkeypox through reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) done at the DOH Research Institute for Tropical Medicine on July 28.
The health official said the case is “recovering well at home.”