Faced with the emergence of cases of monkeypox in Quebec, the Public Health Agency of Canada is preparing to send vaccines against this infection to the province.

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Public Health Canada confirmed on Friday that the first two cases of monkeypox have been confirmed in Quebec, after an analysis at the national laboratory in Winnipeg.

Twenty other cases are under investigation in the province, according to the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS).

"We have samples from the Canadian cases that are under investigation, which are sent to the national biological laboratory for diagnosis and verification," said the chief administrator of the Agency of the Public Health of Canada, Dr. Theresa Tam.

This strain is believed to have come from West Africa in other countries where the infection has been detected, but the origin in Canada is still unknown, according to Dr. Tam.

“At the moment, there are less than twenty cases which are under investigation in Quebec especially, but there are some contacts which we follow up in British Columbia”, she mentioned.

Although smallpox has been eradicated since 1980, strains are still present in the laboratory to prevent any spread of this virus.

“We have a few doses and we are currently discussing with the province of Quebec the possibility of using [the vaccine],” said Dr. Howard Njoo, deputy chief administrator of the Public Health Agency of Canada.