50 House Democrats Urge Biden to Declare Monkeypox a Public Health Emergency

Fifty House Democrats on Thursday called on the Biden administration to declare a public health emergency and boost vaccination efforts in response to the nation’s rising Monkeypox cases.

This year, have been more than 15,500 confirmed cases in 72 countries—66 of which have not historically reported monkeypox—the CDC said Wednesday. The United States has recorded over 2,300 cases, including 581 in New York, 356 in California, 208 in Florida, 208 in Illinois, 158 in Georgia, and 110 in the District of Columbia.

Congressmen Mondaire Jones and Jerry Nadler—both New York Democrats—and four dozen of their colleagues wrote to President Joe Biden:

As cases of monkeypox rise across more states, we ask that the administration act with urgency to ensure that roughly one million ready-to-administer doses of Jynneos vaccine arrive in the United States within the next week; that there is a clear, immediately implemented plan to fill-and-finish the additional 15.1 million doses of raw vaccine substance so that these are also vaccine-ready; and that there is a plan, overseen by a dedicated White House liaison, to coordinate a federal strategy to administer them as quickly as possible. We also encourage the administration to declare a public health emergency and use those authorities to accelerate the federal response.

The lawmakers’ demands came as Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, urged the Biden administration to further prioritize vaccinating people in places with high monkeypox caseloads, like Chicago.

Mounting pressure on the Biden administration coincided with the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) reconvening an emergency committee to again consider whether to declare monkeypox a public health emergency on a global scale.

Originally published at Commondreams.org.