Toronto to offer monkeypox vaccine clinics targeting high-risk communities

Toronto Public Health says it will start holding vaccination clinics to immunize high-risk individuals against the monkeypox virus starting on Sunday.

It says several clinics will be held in the coming weeks to vaccinate those who have had close contact with someone who tested positive and those at higher risk of being exposed to the virus.

Sunday's clinic is intended for employees of the city's bath houses.

Toronto Public Health says there are 11 confirmed cases in the city as of Saturday, two higher than the provincial total of nine released a day earlier by Canada's chief public health officer when she reported a national case count of 112.

Dr. Theresa Tam said most of the cases are among men who said they had had sexual contact with other men, though the virus can spread to anyone who has had close physical contact with an infected person.

Monkeypox belongs to the same virus family as smallpox, and smallpox vaccines have proven effective in combatting the related virus. The National Advisory Committee on Immunization advises offering a single dose of the Imvamune vaccine to individuals with a high risk exposure to a probable or confirmed case of monkeypox, or in a setting where transmission may take place within four days.