On Thursday, the Biden Administration declared Moneypox a “public health emergency” in the U.S. to “unlock funding and more powers to deal with the virus.”
During a conference call with reporters, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra announced the move would provide quicker distribution of the monkeypox vaccine. Becerra was joined by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Robert Califf on the call.
“I will be declaring a public health emergency on Monkeypox.… We’re [taking] our response to the next level,” Becerra said, stating that Americans should take “monkeypox seriously.”
Walensky noted the declaration would make “access to resources” more available and enable personnel deployment to “the outbreak” in some localities. In addition, she indicated the emergency will “further raise awareness and encourage testing for it.”
According to the CDC director, “1.6 to 1.7 million” people in the U.S. are at the “highest risk” of contracting Monkeypox. Officials said the spread is primarily among homosexual men and HIV-positive men are considered at the highest risk. The U.S. population was 329.5 million in 2020. Therefore, the 1.7 million high-risk persons are .051% of 329.5 million.
The declaration came after Illinois, California, and New York, some specific cities and the World Health Organization (WHO) declared respective health emergencies for Monkeypox.
WHO director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus overruled an expert advisory board to declare Monkeypox a global health emergency on July 24.
The Epoch Times reported that the declaration was implemented because of 1,500 new Monkeypox cases in the last couple of weeks. In addition, about 6,600 monkeypox infections were reported in the U.S.
However, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis shifted the focus from the virus to politicians using whatever they could to create fear.
“I’m so sick of politicians—and we saw this with COVID—trying to sow fear into the population,” DeSantis said during an Aug. 3 press conference. “We are not doing fear.
“You see some of these states declaring states of emergency. They’re gonna abuse those powers to restrict your freedom. I guarantee to you that’s what will happen.”
The virus may cause fever, body aches, chills, fatigue, and pimple-like bumps on the body. The U.S. saw its first case of the Monkeypox virus confirmed on May 18. Now, 5,800 cases have been verified.
