Monkeypox Emergency Declared in New York, California and Illinois as US Cases Rise

(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden chose a federal official to lead US monkeypox response efforts as rising case numbers prompted California and Illinois to join New York in declaring the outbreak an emergency.

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Robert Fenton, a regional administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, will be White House monkeypox response coordinator, while Demetre Daskalakis of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will be Fenton’s deputy, according to a statement early Tuesday. Among their goals will be increasing equitable access to tests, vaccines and treatments.

US monkeypox infections rose to a global high of 5,811 on Monday, up from about 4,600 on July 28, and health officials have warned the demand for vaccines is outstripping supply. The state of Illinois broke ranks with federal health officials Thursday, saying it would prioritize first shots of Bavarian Nordic A/S’s vaccine, normally a two-dose regiment, due to limited supplies.

Another 786,000 doses of the product, called Jynneos, were made available to states last week to be distributed “over the coming weeks,” Dawn O’Connell, Administrator for Strategic Preparedness and Response, said in a press briefing last week.

Read More: Understanding Monkeypox and How Outbreaks Spread

Last week, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced a statewide emergency over the growing outbreak and New York City Mayor Eric Adams made a similar declaration Sunday night. Cases in the state account for about a quarter of US infections, according to the CDC.

The emergency declarations are aimed at bolstering vaccination efforts and stemming the rise in new infections. The three states are home to three of the country’s largest cities and account for almost half of US infections.

California is working “to ensure that those most at risk are our focus for vaccines, treatment and outreach,” Governor Gavin Newsom said in a statement Monday. The status change means emergency medical services personnel can administer monkeypox shots, similar to the statutory authorization recently enacted for pharmacists to give vaccines.

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus last month designated the outbreak as an international emergency, paving the way for stepped-up global cooperation to stop the virus that has spread to dozens of countries. The last time the WHO made a similar declaration was during the early stages of the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020.

Read More: WHO Chief Overrules Panel to Call Monkeypox Global Emergency

A cousin of the smallpox virus, monkeypox had mostly been confined to developing countries for years, but has spread across Europe and the US in recent months. The pathogen typically causes flu-like symptoms, followed by a rash that often starts on the face and spreads down the belly. The illness can last for two weeks to a month, and can be deadly in some cases.

So far the outbreak of the virus is concentrated in men who have sex with men, particularly in those who have multiple sexual partners. The WHO believes that using mitigation strategies in populations already affected by the outbreak could help slow the spread of the virus.

Prognosis: Monkeypox Is a Threat to All of Us

Fenton is a regional administrator for FEMA, overseeing Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, and the Pacific Islands. Daskalakis is director of the CDC’s Division of HIV Prevention. The two are “proven, effective leaders” who will implement the US strategy “with the urgency that this outbreak warrants,” Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to the president, said.

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