US authorities declared state of emergency in connection with the spread of monkeypox, writes Wall Street Journal. According to the publication, the government took this decision to speed up the vaccination process. In addition, the declaration of a state of emergency will allow health authorities to collect more data on cases and vaccines, and make it easier for doctors to prescribe treatment.
“We are ready to take this virus to the next level, and we urge every American to take monkeypox seriously and take responsibility to help us fight this virus,” Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra said at a briefing Thursday. Said. .
“We continue to monitor the situation to make sure we can control monkeypox and prevent it from spreading to the point where it has become endemic.”
The number of cases in the country has exceeded 6 thousand 600 people.
A quarter of US cases are in New York State, which did not declare a state of emergency last week. On Monday, states of emergency were declared in the states of California and Illinois.
queues for vaccines
On July 27, the medical journal Medical Xpress reported huge queues for smallpox vaccines in New York. This was due to a severe shortage of the two-dose Jynneos vaccine, the only U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved vaccine for monkeypox. A huge strategic stockpile of a modernized version of the original smallpox vaccine called ACAM2000 held by the federal government has yet to be approved for use due to serious side effects.
Thus, in a city with a population of more than 8 million, only 17,000 vaccines were available. The record was closed nine minutes after the start.
U.S. officials have ordered another 2.5 million doses of Jynneos vaccine to date. Medical authorities in some states have so far decided to administer only one dose, contrary to regulators’ recommendations for two doses.
WHO decision
Monkeypox is a rare viral infection that can also be transmitted between humans. It is usually a mild condition and most people recover within a few weeks, but for some, complications can occur.
The epidemic, which originated at a European festival where gays and bisexuals gather in mid-spring, had 16,000 infections as of July 2022, according to epidemiologists.
Last month, the World Health Organization declared monkeypox a public health emergency of international concern. There are currently 19,000 cases in 75 countries.
The top ten most affected countries are Spain, USA, Germany, UK, France, Netherlands, Canada, Brazil, Portugal and Italy. On 12 July, the first and only so far case of monkeypox was detected in Russia. The man, with a characteristic rash after a trip to Europe, went to St. He turned to the doctors in St. Petersburg. He fully recovered and was discharged from the hospital.