The World Health Organization’s latest report on global Mpox trends highlights Mexico’s case load as still one of the highest in Latin America, although globally that case load is going down.

Mpox, formerly known as Monkeypox, had concerning contagion rates in the latter part of 2022, but in the United States, where the most cases were reported globally, new contagions have dropped off dramatically.

While only 72 new cases of Mpox were reported in the last week in Mexico, that is still higher than in any other country reporting such statistics. The U.S. only reported 42 such new cases in the same time period.

One reason cases remain relatively high is that the Mpox vaccine still is not available in Mexico, so doctors like VGC’s medical director Dr. Miguel Buenrostro aren’t able to prescribe it to help protect our local patients. Only those Vallarta residents and visitors who have traveled or lived in other countries in the last several months have had the opportunity to get vaccinated.

Dr. Buenrostro said that, according to the national medical statistics he’s reading, most of the current cases of Mpox are turning up in Mexico City, with relatively few in Puerto Vallarta.

But he doesn’t expect the vaccine situation to improve anytime soon. “The vaccine supply from the manufacturers has already been bought out for the rest of 2023, so it won’t be possible to obtain the vaccine at least until sometime next year,” he said.