- Until now, the United States remains one of the countries with the most infections of monkeypox in the world.
- Of the 26,000 cases that have been registered globally, at least 6,600 correspond to the American Union.
- With this decision, federal officials now have the power to expedite medical indications, such as possible treatments and vaccines, without going through full reviews.
The situation around the world remains in a complicated moment. Real control of the Covid-19 pandemic is still not achieved and now there is another problem that is causing more and more concern. This is monkeypox and to understand its magnitude, today the government of The United States has already classified the disease as a public health emergency.
Through a press conference, the Secretary of Health of the American Union, Xavier Becerra, released this news. In his meeting with the media, he asked citizens not to underestimate this disease. He also asked to learn the lessons of the past so as not to repeat mistakes.
BREAKING: US declares monkeypox a public health emergency
— BNO News (@BNOFeed) August 4, 2022
The decision was made due to the growing increase in cases registered in the United States. Every week the figure doubles and so far it remains within the three countries with the most infected people on the planet.
What will change in the United States by declaring monkeypox a public health emergency?
- With this declaration, federal officials now have the power to speed up medical indications, such as possible treatments and vaccines, without going through full reviews.
- It also allows for greater flexibility in how the current supply of vaccines is managed.
- The federal announcement follows the same path that other local administrations have taken in recent days. Among the states that declared a public health emergency first are New York, California and Illinois.
In this vein, in recent weeks the government headed by Joe Biden announced the purchase of 2.5 million doses of monkeypox vaccine manufactured by the Danish company Bavarian Nordic.
This drug, also known as Jynennos, already has emergency use authorization for both smallpox and monkeypox.
Now, to understand the dimension of the problem, so far 26,000 cases have been registered worldwide. Of that figure, 6,600 correspond to the United States.
On the other hand, it should be remembered that on July 23 the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the monkeypox outbreak an international public health emergency.
This alert is the maximum that the United Nations (UN) agency can activate so that countries put in place the necessary protocols with which to try to contain a viral outbreak and prevent it from becoming a pandemic. The last time the WHO made such a decision was in January 2020 with COVID-19.
Responsible for combating monkeypox in the United States
For its part, the United States also appointed Robert J. Fenton Jr.a former Federal Emergency Management Agency official, as coordinator of the national response against monkeypox.
In that sense, federal authorities have identified about 1.6 million people as high risk of contracting monkeypox even though the United States has only received enough doses of Jyennos to fully cover 550,000 people.