August 5, 2022 – Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra said the agency has declared the monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency.
“We’re prepared to take our response to the next level in addressing this virus, and we urge every American to take monkeypox seriously and to take responsibility to help us tackle this virus,” Becerra said at a Thursday news briefing. He formally signed the declaration later on Thursday.
The health secretary is also considering a second declaration empowering federal officials to expedite medical countermeasures, such as potential treatments and vaccines, without going through full-fledged federal reviews. That would also allow for greater flexibility in how the current supply of vaccines is administered, Becerra said.
The administration’s announcement follows similar decisions by health officials in New York, California and Illinois and global health leaders. The WHO on July 23 declared that monkeypox was a public health emergency of international concern, its highest-level warning, after confirmed outbreaks in about 70 countries where the virus has not historically spread.
Health officials Thursday also said they were taking steps to improve access to Jynneos, the only vaccine approved by the FDA to protect against the virus through a two-dose regimen. Federal officials have identified about 1.6 million people as highest risk for monkeypox, but the U.S. has only received enough Jynneos doses to fully cover about 550,000 people. Officials said that they had expedited an additional 150,000 doses of Jynneos to arrive in September, and FDA Commissioner Robert Califf told reporters that a “dose-sparing” plan was under serious consideration.
More than 7,100 cases of monkeypox have been confirmed in the United States since May 18 with the vast majority occurring among men who have sex with men — a total that has doubled about every eight days, but which experts say they believe is a significant undercount. Officials have also reported at least five cases of monkeypox in children, who are believed to have gotten infected through household transmission.