Health minister: Greece has begun vaccinations for mpox since July 22

Vaccination against mpox is available to the Greek public as of July 22, Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis said on Thursday.

Apropos of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) announcement on Wednesday that the spread of mpox constitutes a public health emergency of international concern, the health minister said that “the mpox virus is genetically similar to the smallpox virus, but less contagious and with milder symptoms.”

Georgiadis said that in 2024 WHO has registered a 160% rise of mpox infections by a new and more deadly version of the virus. He said that as of January 2022, there were officially in 16 countries of Africa 38,465 mpox cases were recorded and 1,456 people who died from the infection. The most vulnerable groups are men having sex with men, men having sex with men and women, and trans individuals, particularly if any individuals of the above groups have multiple partners.

Any person of the above groups who wishes to get vaccinated should know they do not have to declare they belong to one of the above groups when they register for inoculations, the minister said.

More information is available at https://eody.gov.gr/disease/proin-eylogia-ton-pithikon-mpox/.