President Joe Biden on Tuesday selected top officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to coordinate the fight against monkeypox .
The White House said in a statement that FEMA’s Robert Fenton will be the monkeypox national response coordinator, while CDC’s Dr. Demetre Daskalakis will serve as coordinator attached.
Officials led the administration’s strategy and operations to combat the ongoing monkeypox outbreak, including increasing the availability of tests, vaccines and treatments, the statement added.
The decision comes amid criticism of the administration for the rate of availability of vaccine against monkeypox, a viral infection that can lead to hospitalization or death but does not usually cause serious illness. The disease spreads through close physical contact between people.
More than 800 have been detected around the world. ,000 cases of monkeypox, while in the United States there have been 5,800.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared monkeypox a “health emergency of international interest”, as happened with Covid-19 and polio.
Clinics in cities such as New York and San Francisco reported that they have not received enough two-dose vaccines to meet demand, and some have had to stop offering the second dose of the vaccine to ensure availability. provision of the first doses.
“When there is an outbreak of an infectious disease, the The federal government has an obligation to make vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics widely available without undue delay,” said Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi for the Democratic Party, who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee.
California and Illinois declared a state of emergency on Monday due to the increase in cases of monkeypox, and New York was added, which did the same last Friday.
The emergency declaration authorizes state agencies to allocate funds and resources to help localities in the fight against the disease.
For her part, the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, indicated Monday that 1.1 million doses of monkeypox vaccine have been distributed in the United States, including 737,000 doses that have been distributed in recent days and have been administered more than 80,000 monkeypox tests per week.
With information from USA Today