Monkeypox has more than 6,600 cases in the United States.
Photo: SAM PANTHAKY/AFP/Getty Images
The President’s Government Joe Biden declared monkeypox on Thursday a national health emergencyto free up more funds for prevention, screening and vaccines.
“We are ready to take our response to the next level to fight this virus, and we urge all Americans to take monkeypox seriously and take responsibility for helping us confront this virus,” he said. . Xavier BecerraSecretary of the Department of Health and Social Services.
So far, the states of California, Illinois and New Yorkhave issued a health emergency for this outbreak of monkeypox.
However, on July 23, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, due to confirmed cases in more than 70 countries.
Until, US records more than 6,600 monkeypox cases in 26 states and the city of DCwith New York (1,666), California (826), Illinois (547), Florida (525) and the city of Washington (257) facing the highest number of infections, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
The infectious disease it comes from the same family of viruses as smallpox and is spread mainly through close contact, including rubbing against infected skin or clothing worn by people with the disease.
Last Tuesday, President Biden appointed Robert Fenton as the White House National Monkeypox Response Coordinator and the Dr. Demetre Daskalakis as deputy national White House response coordinator for Monkeypox.
“Fenton and Daskalakis together have more than four decades of experience in federal emergency response and public health leadership, including overseeing operations and implementing key elements of the administration’s response. Biden to the COVID-19 pandemic,” the White House said of those experts. “Both have played critical roles in making COVID vaccines more accessible to underserved communities and closing the equity gap in adult immunization rates.”
In coordination with HHS, Fenton and Daskalakis are leading the efforts of the White House and all federal and state departments and agencies to ensure they have adequate supplies to test, treat and vaccinate those at risk, with doctors and providers available, as well as screening, treatment and vaccination options.
The Biden administration has made more than 1.1 million vaccine doses available to states and cities across the country to control the spread of the virus, in addition to expanding testing from 6,000 a week to more than 80,000 .
Efforts have also been made to avoid the stigmatization of certain communities, such as LGTQIA+one of the most affected, but the cases cross different ages -including children-, ethnic groups and sexual orientation.