US To Declare Monkeypox Public Health Emergency As Cases Cross 7,000 Mark: Report

US on Monkeypox: This signals that the monkeypox outbreak now represents a significant threat to the citizens.

Health workers sit at a table at a pop-up monkeypox vaccination clinic in Los Angeles

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Amid a spurt in monkeypox cases in the US, the Joe Biden administration will declare the infection a public health emergency, AP reported. This signals that the monkeypox outbreak now represents a significant threat to the citizens. Monkeypox has already infected more than 7,000 Americans. 

Officials said the move would give federal agencies the power to expedite vaccines and drugs, access emergency funding and to hire additional workers to help manage the outbreak, a report in NYT said.

Washington, New York and Georgia have reported the bulk of the monkeypox cases, NYT reported. More than 99 per cent of the cases are among men who have sex with men.

The Biden administration has faced criticism over the pace of vaccine availability for monkeypox. Major cities like New York and San Francisco have claimed that they did not receive enough of the two-shot vaccine, called Jynneos, to meet the growing demand, AP reported.

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The White House said it had made more than 1.1 million doses of vaccine available and has helped to boost domestic diagnostic capacity to 80,000 tests per week. Tecovirimat is another the drug recommended for treating the disease.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) recently declared monkeypox a global public health emergency of international concern. Globally, over 16,000 cases of monkeypox have been reported from 75 countries.

Monkeypox is a viral zoonotic disease -- a virus transmitted to humans from animals -- with symptoms similar to smallpox although clinically less severe. People getting infected so far have been primarily men who have sex with men.

The common symptoms of monkeypox are fever, rash and swollen lymph nodes. It is usually a self-limiting disease with symptoms lasting for two to four weeks.