The Biden administration’s inability to adequately deal with the monkeypox epidemic has drawn criticism from lawmakers from various political perspectives.
Last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global monkeypox emergency that appears to primarily affect men who have sex with men in the United States. On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported 2,600 confirmed cases that may not accurately reflect the severity of the condition due to a lack of testing.
As CNN recently reported, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said, “The number of doses of monkeypox vaccine distributed across the U.S. has more than tripled since last week,” but the Biden administration’s supply is not consistently in demand. . Last week, 132,000 doses of the two-dose Jynneos vaccine were distributed across the country, not enough to meet current demand.
By TopLawmakers on both sides summoned the Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra will come up with a more detailed plan for how the administration plans to handle the outbreak. Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) described the administration’s response to a letter to Becerra as “alarming”.
Xavier Becerra, Secretary of Health and Human Services, speaks in Washington, June 28, 2022. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, file)
“Management has the tools and authority to deal with these threats. Your inactivity poses a threat to public health, especially for gay and bisexual people who are most at risk,” Burr wrote. “The government failed this population at the start of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, we must not fail them again.”
Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and Representative. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) sent similar letters to Becerra criticizing the administration’s response, while 50 House Democrats sent their own letters to President Joe Biden asking him to declare a state of emergency in the regions. public health. .
“This will allow a number of officials to step up federal response and deploy additional resources to obtain vaccines and distribute them rapidly across the country,” they wrote.
Last Thursday, HHS released only one fact sheet on the management’s response to the monkeypox crisis, with no indication of future briefings.
“In the coming days and weeks, HHS will continue to strengthen and accelerate its monkeypox strategy and work closely with public health officials and stakeholders in high-risk communities to distribute vaccines, testing and treatments in communities across the country.” . said the department.
The department also reported that monkeypox testing continues to rise to 80,000 per week.
At a press briefing on Friday, the White House said it will seek to expand access to vaccines and antivirals while she is the coronavirus response coordinator. Ashish Jha responded to the concerns of some lawmakers.
“Since the early days of this epidemic, we have used every resource we have,” Jha said. Said.
Jha noted that more than 300,000 doses of the vaccine have been shipped and more doses are expected to arrive from Denmark within a few weeks.
On Tuesday, July 19, 2022, a nurse prepares a monkeypox vaccine at the Pride Center at Equality Park in Wilton Manors, Florida. (Al Diaz/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
“Both the CDC and FDA are working to streamline the process of accessing this treatment to make it easier for doctors to order… It’s a work in progress but it will continue to accelerate,” he said.
Jha also said the White House was discussing whether to declare a public health emergency.
“We’re looking at that, looking at how we can increase the response by declaring a public health emergency,” he said. “In public health emergencies, I always think it’s important to ask specific questions about what would allow us to act differently than we do now. And will it make it easier to respond to this epidemic? Therefore, as far as I know, I will suffice to say that there is no final decision on this issue.”
Source: Breitbart
