The Biden administration declared a public health emergency Thursday in response to the rapidly spreading monkeypox outbreak in the United States. The federal government's action follows similar moves out of California, New York and Illinois earlier this week.
This designation aids the United States' effort in combating the virus by making resources more readily available, including the monkeypox vaccine and tests. The White House said it has made over 1.1 million doses of the two dose Jynneos vaccine available to states and is boosting the nation's testing capacity to 80,000 tests per week.
Jynneos, made by Danish biotech company Bavarian Nordic
"We are prepared to take our response to the next level in addressing this virus, and we urge every American to take monkeypox seriously," said Xavier Becerra, head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
The HHS can also more easily draw from emergency funds, hire more staff to combat the outbreak, and take broader steps to contain the virus under the emergency declaration.
Earlier this week, the White House appointed Robert Fenton, an administrator with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to head the U.S. monkeypox response. The president also named Demetre Daskalakis, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) division of HIV prevention, to be U.S. deputy monkeypox response coordinator.
According to the White House, Fenton and Daskalakis will work with state and local authorities to ensure they have enough tests, vaccine and other treatments to better contain their local outbreaks.
The CDC has confirmed more than 7,500 cases of monkeypox across 48 states, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico. New York, Illinois and California, home to the nation's three largest cities, are facing the brunt of the outbreak, with New York being the epicenter with over 1,800 cases.
Monkeypox, a less severe relative of smallpox, is primarily spread through intimate skin-to-skin contact or prolonged face-to-face interaction through respiratory droplets. Men who have sex with men are currently at highest risk of infection, but any group can be infected through physical contact with an infected individual as it is not a sexually transmitted disease.
Monkeypox is rarely fatal, with no deaths reported in the U.S. so far. However, some patients have been hospitalized due to severe pain from the rash caused by the virus. Health experts warn that monkeypox could remain circulating in the U.S. endemically is this outbreak isn't contained.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared monkeypox a global health emergency last month, noting that the outbreak is unusually spreading widely in North America and Europe. Before, monkeypox circulated at low levels in West and Central Africa.
