Amid the spread of monkeypox in Europe, there are concerns in the United States that control of the disease may be lost.
According to The Hill, a political media outlet on the 3rd, some infectious disease and public health experts in the United States pointed out that the Joe Biden administration’s response to monkey pox was too slow, similar to the initial outbreak of the new coronavirus infection (COVID-19).
The point of their argument is that although monkeypox is showing a different rate of spread than before, it is causing the spread of the disease through fairly limited testing and vaccine distribution.
David Harvey, director of the National Center for Sexually Transmitted Diseases Prevention and Cooperation (NCSD), said: “The United States is lagging behind in simplifying testing, providing available vaccines, and streamlining access to treatments. “He said.
James Krelenstein, co-founder of Prep4All, a non-governmental organization advocating treatment for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), said, “We have been vocal about how bad the monkeypox diagnosis is for a month.” He claimed that this is evidence that he is not learning anything from the initial COVID-19 crisis.
Associate Professor Andrews advised, “We’ve had five or six waves of COVID-19, and each time we’ve been taken aback. To stop the spread of monkeypox, you should read those pages.”
First of all, the US government has expressed confidence in its approach to monkey pox.
“We know how monkeypox spreads,” Assisi Zha, the White House’s coronavirus response coordinator, said recently. “We have testing tools and effective vaccines to identify who is infected.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 460 people have been infected with monkey pox in 30 states, Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico. However, infection experts see this as a lower number than the actual number because extensive testing is not performed.
The Biden administration is stepping up its response by expanding access to testing and vaccines.
First, at the end of last month, the inspection was extended to private facilities.
CDC Director Rochelle Wallensky emphasized that “patients with a suspicious rash should be tested.”
However, it is currently taking more than a month to increase the number of tests from 8,000 per week to 10,000, and it is pointed out that the problem is that even this is concentrated in large cities such as Washington DC and New York.
Director Wallensky also said that he would provide the vaccine not only to those who were exposed to monkeypox, but also to those who are suspected of having been exposed even if it was not confirmed and said that the government would immediately supply 56,000 doses of the ‘Genneos’ vaccine.
However, New York and Washington, D.C. started providing the vaccine to same-sex men with those who had been exposed to the virus, but the vaccine was exhausted within a day, The Hill said.
The US government said an additional 296,000 doses would be supplied in the next few weeks.
In response to the government’s response, Celine Gownder, an infectious disease expert, said, “We have already been able to test and use vaccines. criticized
NCSD Director Harvey said, “I think this outbreak is already out of control,” and he also gave a pessimistic outlook that “we cannot contain it at this time because there are not enough vaccines at this time.”