Interior Health warns of monkeypox automated call scam

As the second dose of the monkeypox vaccine becomes available for B.C. residents, so does the latest round of scams.

Interior Health (IH) issued a notice on Oct. 18 stating that an automated call scam is going around the region where a person is impersonating an IH employee.

According to IH, the call claims that you have been exposed to monkeypox. Health officials are ensuring the region’s residents that this call is to be disregarded as IH doesn’t use automated calls to notify people about exposure to infectious diseases, instead, an IH nurse will call directly.

The Public Health Agency of Canada says a total of 1,400 cases of the monkeypox virus have been confirmed in Canada, including 162 in British Columbia.

More than 19,000 doses of the Imvamune vaccine have been administered to those most at risk of contracting the virus in B.C.

The health authority says eligible people who have not yet received the first dose are encouraged to do so, but those who have had a monkeypox infection do not need a vaccine.

KAMLOOPS – WARNING – Automated call scam impersonating IH.
The call claims you have been exposed to monkeypox. Please disregard. IH does doesn't use automated calls to notify people about exposure to an infectious disease, an IH nurse will call you directly.

— Interior Health (@Interior_Health) October 18, 2022

READ MORE: B.C. to get 1.7 million doses of new Pfizer bivalent vaccine from next week