The treatment against the Monkeypox virus has just arrived in Polynesia. It will make it possible to treat patients with a severe form of the disease. To date, no confirmed or probable case of the virus has been declared in fenua. In mainland France, a vaccination campaign is underway to prevent monkey pox.
A delivery of 4 bottles of 168 capsules of Tecovirimat arrived last Saturday. The French Ministry of Health has validated the shipment of this Monkeypox antiviral treatment to French Polynesia.
As a reminder, on July 23, 2022, the World Health Organization recognized the emergence of the epidemic due to the Monkeypox virus, whose epicenter is in Europe, as a public health emergency of international concern.
In order to anticipate the introduction of this virus into French Polynesia, the country has authorized the marketing of the antiviral treatment Tecovimat.
To date, no confirmed or probable case of the virus has been declared in French Polynesia. but the country now has the possibility, in situations where treatment is necessary, of treating patients with a severe form of the disease.
According to the website of the national Ministry of Health, “Tecovimat is part of the State’s strategic stock. As such, it follows a particular distribution circuit defined with Public Health France and is therefore not dispensed under the same conditions as other health products: it is only dispensed in health establishments for patients with a severe form of the disease”.
A few months into the outbreak, tens of thousands of monkeypox cases are confirmed worldwide and deaths are reported.
The majority of sufferers in Europe so far are men who have sex with men, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
At the beginning of August in France, 2,601 cases of monkey pox were recorded, according to the results of Public Health France (SpF). All are adult men, with the exception of 23 women and 2 children, the health agency said.
Regarding the vaccination campaign, 54,585 doses were delivered to vaccination centers across France as of August 9, says SpF.
“More than 30,000 people” were vaccinated, said the Minister of Health François Braun at the time. The High Authority for Health has estimated the target population for this campaign at some 250,000 people.