"They (the vaccinations) have been running and scheduled in 4 or 5 community health centers (puskesmas) in Jakarta," he informed at a press conference, which was followed online from here on Thursday.
He noted that all the targeted recipients are men who have sex with men (MSM). The group has been selected as the target considering that the active mpox cases have involved local transmissions and are interrelated.
He further said that the targeted recipients are those who have been sexually active in the past two weeks. To support case-tracing efforts, the Health Ministry is cooperating with a number of communities and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) who work with at-risk groups.
"Of course, (we are) cooperating with NGOs, which, in the beginning, are those related to HIV. This is key because these NGOs are more familiar with the key population," he added.
Rondonuwu said that currently, the ministry has prepared 1 thousand vaccine doses for the vaccinations, under which each targeted recipient will get 2 doses. The ministry is also coordinating with ASEAN to obtain 2 thousand additional vaccine doses.
However, this number is deemed not yet sufficient because the Ministry of Health, together with experts, has predicted that there will be additional cases, which could take the total mpox case tally to 3,600.
"I think if we multiply it by 2, we need a minimum of 6,500 more (vaccine doses) if we subtract that (those who have been vaccinated). Farmalkes (Directorate General of Pharmacy and Medical Devices) is still working on it," he said.
He also underlined that the openness of MSM to health officers is important to trace cases so that mpox handling can be made more optimal.
"We really need the openness of the (mpox) positive group. If they are open, it would be very easy to carry out tracing," he said.
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Translator: Sean Muhamad, Raka Adji
Editor: Tia Mutiasari
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