Fernando Simón points out that, for the moment, "it would not be necessary to vaccinate for monkeypox"

• Health Spain obtains the complete genome sequence of the monkeypox virus

The epidemiologist and director of the Center for the Coordination of Health Alerts and Emergencies,

, has visited Ourense as part of a presentation on

at the city's College of Physicians.

Before the act, he wanted to send a message of "calm and caution" in the presence of

, an infection for which, for the time being, he has pointed out that "it would not be necessary to vaccinate in Spain".

"We need to know the existing information a little better, assess it better to be able to give an exact answer.

and a little bit of margin for the investigative technicians to do their job perfectly", he requested, recalling that Spain has a surveillance system "that is trying to be very sensitive to detect as many cases as possible."

In this way, he has said that

, but "it would not be ruled out at all".

"There are people with smallpox who have not yet been contacted and there are people who have not started symptoms," added the epidemiologist, who has also responded to doubts about vaccination for this disease.

"Right now, with the information we have and the initial position of the experts in Spain,

," he stressed, although "it is an option.

Despite these statements, he warned that this statement "may change in a few days depending on the information that arrives", so "we must be cautious when making this type of proposal".

That of the United Kingdom, a "different situation"

In addition,

has emphasized that the decision to vaccinate or not should not be allowed "to be imposed for non-technical-scientific reasons, due to pressures outside the areas that must decide on this type of situation."

He has made reference to

, stating that the situation in one country and another are not comparable because they "have had several imported cases and several small outbreaks in recent years."

"Their situation is different from ours and from that of other European countries," she stressed.

Purchase of vaccines?

Regarding the purchase of vaccines, he has indicated that it is "an issue" that

the doses and "assess if they could be purchased if necessary."

Likewise, he explained that the vaccines that are being proposed are not only useful for

, but also for other pathologies, "therefore we must first know if there is a need to vaccinate and we must have the margin to assess if it would be feasible. or not".

"If there would be availability for us and also for all the countries that might need them," she added.

In this same sense,

has asked that "things not get out of hand" and that "they be taken with a certain calm", advancing that the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Health are working on a document that "indicates the norms and guidelines to manage relationships with animals".

All in all, in Spain "the usual pets a priori should not be a greater risk, although it must be studied carefully."

Lights and shadows

has referred to all of this

before appearing at the

with a presentation under the title

, in which after two years of the pandemic he has made a critical analysis of the country's response to the coronavirus crisis, from the health field to that of information, as well as the lessons learned.

"Global health requires global responses", he recalled during his conference in which, to questions from the media, he discussed the current situation of the pandemic in Portugal.

The neighboring country currently has one of the highest incidences in Europe, speaks of another wave and is even rethinking the mandatory use of the mask.

For

, "without losing sight of what is happening in other countries", right now in Spain the same type of measures are not being considered "that are planted in countries where there are high levels of contagion" because transmission "is declining" .

Along these lines, the director of the Center for Coordination of Health Alerts and Emergencies has insisted on the importance of

, because "most serious cases and lethality are avoided": We must have a certain peace of mind because the evolution of the pandemic is very different from what it was a few years ago.

Protect the vulnerable

However, that does not mean that control measures are not applied "if necessary", but right now "the objective is to protect vulnerable people above all".

To do this, he said that "the measures are clear" and are based on "progressively recovering all the health care that has been stopped during these years of pandemic."

"We have to return to a health system that responds to the health needs of the population, not just the coronavirus, and the situation and strategies that Spain is now proposing go in that direction," Simón asserted.

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