As the world continues to grapple with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Biden administration has officially declared monkeypox a public health emergency, CNN reports.
With cases on the rise across the U.S., people have called on the government to take action.
Last month, the World Health Organization (WHO) made an announcement noting that the disease is a public health emergency of international concern. This means that monkeypox is “an extraordinary event” that serves as a “public health risk to other states through the international spread of disease.”
Per WHO standards, it also means that monkeypox could “potentially require a coordinated international response.”
President Biden officially tapped Robert Fenton as the White House’s national monkeypox response coordinator on Tuesday (Aug. 2). He currently serves as a regional Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator who oversees the states of Arizona, California, Hawaii, and Nevada.
In the new role, Fenton will coordinate the federal government’s response to the monkeypox outbreak alongside Dr. Demetre, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s director of the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention.
Per reports, more than 6,600 Americans have been affected by the virus, which may cause fever, body aches, chills, fatigue, and pimple-like bumps on various parts of the body.
As previously reported by REVOLT, states like California, Illinois, and New York have all declared monkeypox a public health concern within the last week.
“In light of evolving circumstances on the ground, I am declaring a public health emergency on #monkeypox,” said Xavier Becerra. secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) in an official statement. “We are prepared to take our response to the next level in addressing this virus. We urge every American to take monkeypox serious.”
At this time health officials are also reconsidering the approach to the way monkeypox vaccine doses are administered due to the fact that the country is “at a critical inflection point.”