British health officials will start offering vaccines to some men who have sex with men and are at the highest risk of catching monkeypox, in an effort to curb the biggest outbreak of the disease beyond Africa.
Doctors can consider vaccination for some men at the highest risk of exposure, Britain's Health Security agency said yesterday. The agency identified those at highest risk as men who have sex with men and who have multiple partners, participate in group sex or attend venues where sex occurs.
"By expanding the vaccine offer to those at higher risk, we hope to break chains of transmission and help contain the outbreak," said the Health Security Agency's head of immunisation, Dr Mary Ramsay.
Last month, a leading adviser to the World Health Organisation said that the monkeypox outbreak beyond Africa was likely spread by sexual activity by men at raves in Spain and Belgium.