Biden administration increasing monkeypox testing and vaccines. Here’s what to know
testing for monkeypox as cases across the country are on the rise.
More than 2,500 Americans as of Friday have been infected with monkeypox, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Globally, there have been more than 16,500 confirmed cases of monkeypox.
“We’ve taken a comprehensive approach to this outbreak of a disease that we’ve seen before in the United States,” said Ashish Jha, White House COVID-19 response coordinator.
The latest
- As of Friday, the Biden administration has shipped out 300,000 doses of vaccines for monkeypox across the country, Jha said. Overall, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has made 374,000 vaccine doses available for ordering and delivered over 191,000 of those doses to state and city health departments for free, HHS said Thursday.
- The Biden administration has increased its capacity to test for monkeypox to 80,000 tests per week. When the outbreak first began, only about 6,000 tests were available per week.
- Jha emphasized the outbreak is not just a domestic issue but a global one.
- Jennifer McQuiston, the deputy director of the Division of High Consequence Pathogens and Pathology at the CDC, said that 99% of cases reported are by those who have had male to male sexual contact.
being overwhelmed by the outbreak.
Jha said HHS is weighing whether to declare a public health emergency. They are looking at how the response could be enhanced and whether an emergency would help the response.
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