ANI
05 Aug 2022, 01:57 GMT+10
Washington [US], August 5 (ANI): The United States on Thursday declared Monkeypox a Public Health Emergency which indicates that the virus has a significant risk for Americans, media reports said.
The announcement was made by President Biden's health secretary Xavier Becerra. The designation will free up emergency funds and lift some bureaucratic hurdles, reported New York Times.
Over a week ago the World Health Organization declared a global health emergency over the outbreak, and it gives federal agencies power to direct money toward developing and evaluating vaccines and drugs, to access emergency funding and to hire additional workers to help manage the outbreak, which began in May.
"We're prepared to take our response to the next level in addressing this virus, and we urge every American to take monkeypox seriously," the health secretary, Xavier Becerra, said at a news briefing.
This move comes as US President Joe Biden and Becerra have been under intense pressure from activists and public health experts to move more aggressively to combat the outbreak.
Biden earlier named a veteran emergency response official and a respected infectious disease specialist to coordinate the response from the White House -- a sign that the administration is stepping up its efforts.
Supplies of the monkeypox vaccine, called Jynneos, have been severely constrained, and the administration has been criticized for moving too slowly to expand the number of doses. Declaring the emergency would not ease that shortage, but the administration may take steps to allow quicker access to tecovirimat, the drug recommended for treating the disease.
As of Wednesday, the United States had recorded nearly 7,000 monkeypox cases, with the highest rates per capita in Washington, New York and Georgia. More than 99 percent of the cases are among men who have sex with men.
The virus is transmitted mostly during close physical contact; the infection is rarely fatal -- no deaths have been reported in the United States -- but can be very painful. The country now has among the highest rates of monkeypox infection in the world, and the number is expected to rise as surveillance and testing improve.
Declaring monkeypox an emergency sends "a strong message that this is important, that it must be dealt with now," said Anne Rimoin, an epidemiologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, and a member of the W.H.O.'s advisory panel on monkeypox, as per the media portal. (ANI)Get a daily dose of Russia Herald news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Russia Herald.
More InformationLONDON, U.K.: This week, BP appointed Simon Henry, former Shell finance chief, to its board as a non-executive director effective September...
OTTAWA, Canada: With Canada Post struggling to maintain operations amid labour unrest, rivals like FedEx and UPS are stepping in to...
NEW YORK, New York - U.S. and global markets showed a mixed performance in Tuesday's trading session, with some indices edging higher...
PARIS, France: French military and intelligence officials have accused China of orchestrating a covert campaign to damage the reputation...
NEW DELHI, India: Birkenstock is stepping up its efforts to protect its iconic sandals in India, as local legal representatives conducted...
HONG KONG: China has fired back at the European Union in an escalating trade dispute by imposing new restrictions on medical device...
NEW YORK CITY, New York: With just weeks to spare before a potential government default, U.S. lawmakers passed a sweeping tax and spending...
The International Criminal Court has long been accused of giving Western crimes a free pass with selective justice The International...
(250709) -- KABUL, July 9, 2025 (Xinhua) -- This photo taken on July 9, 2025 shows people on a street in Kabul, Afghanistan. Mohammad...
Russia is well aware that it is the US presidents style, spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said Russia takes the harsh recent rhetoric...
New Delhi [India], July 9 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Pradeep Bhandari on Wednesday hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's...
Officials in Moscow have urged diversification beyond wheat and oil Africa is becoming an increasingly important market for Russian...