Since the first case of smallpox was identified in the U.S. in mid-May, more than 6,600 probable or confirmed cases have been identified in the United States. Cases have been identified in every state except Montana and Wyoming. The statement follows the World Health Organization’s announcement last month that monkeypox is a public health emergency of international concern. The WHO defines a public health emergency of international concern, or PHEIC, as “an extraordinary event” that poses a “public health risk to other states through the international spread of disease” and “potentially requires a coordinated international response.” . Some cities and states, including New York, San Francisco, California, Illinois and New York, have already declared monkeypox a state of emergency, allowing them to free up funding and resources for their responses to the outbreak. On Tuesday, President Joe Biden on Tuesday named Robert Fenton as the White House’s national smallpox response coordinator. Fenton — a Federal Emergency Management Agency regional administrator who oversees Arizona, California, Hawaii and Nevada — will coordinate the federal government’s response to the outbreak. Dr. Dimitris Daskalakis, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, serves as deputy coordinator. The Biden administration has been heavily criticized by some public health experts for not moving faster to address the crisis. One of the criticisms of the administration’s response, CNN reported earlier Thursday, was that HHS waited more than three weeks after the first confirmed case of smallpox in the U.S. to order bulk supplies of the monkeypox vaccine, which the government owns and stores in Denmark. , bottled and shipped to the US for distribution. The delay was partly due to concern that when these vaccines were removed from bulk storage, they would lose years of shelf life. Monkey pox can infect anyone, but the majority of cases in the US outbreak have been among men who have sex with men, including gay and bisexual men and people who identify as transgender. Close contact with an infected person is required for the monkeypox virus to spread, experts say. The CDC initially announced that monkeypox vaccines would be released from the Strategic National Stockpile and offered to “high-risk” contacts of monkeypox patients, as well as health care workers who treat them. Federal health officials have since expanded vaccination efforts to focus on the broader community of men who have sex with men, the demographic that accounts for most smallpox cases in the US. In addition to providing vaccines, the CDC has said since June that it has made a concerted effort to expand education and outreach to the LGBTQ community. This story has been updated with additional information. CNN’s Jamie Gumbrecht and Kate Sullivan contributed to this report.
