Get us the shots, Joe!
Leading Democrats running for the heart of the Big Apple’s LGBTQ community in Congress on Friday tore apart the Biden administration to let the bureaucracy hand over the import of 1 million doses of the much-needed smallpox vaccine. monkey.
The comments came just hours after The Post highlighted how the Food and Drug Administration’s failure to inspect the plant in Denmark and its subsequent refusal to accept inspections by European regulators had left the shots in limbo.
“It’s now July and this is a vaccine that has existed and been approved since 2019, which makes the FDA’s poor planning on buying vaccines even more crazy and outrageous,” said former Mayor Bill de Blasio in a statement.
The city’s ex-chief is among the half-dozen Democrats vying to represent the newly designed 10th Congressional District, which stretches over large stretches of Brooklyn and lower Manhattan, including the West Village, which is the historic center. from the gay community to the city. five municipalities.
Lower East Side Councilwoman Carlina Rivera quickly joined the outrage, which required the White House to immediately order an FDA inspection or accept European regulators’ approvals.
“We have $ 2 billion in US-funded vaccines in a warehouse in Europe and I urge the FDA to conduct an immediate inspection or grant a single reciprocity to completed EU inspections so we can get those vaccines to people who want them. as soon as possible, “the two-term legislator said in a statement.
Lower East Side councilor Carlina Rivera demanded that Biden immediately order an FDA inspection or accept the approvals of European regulators. William Farrington
Another contender, Daniel Goldman, a lawyer and heir to the fortune of Levi Strauss, best known for leading the first impeachment hearings to then-President Donald Trump, has also joined the growing heart of outrage.
“In a public health situation of this gravity, the FDA should be able to rely on the well-respected EU regulatory system,” he said. “We need to learn our lesson from COVID and do our best to get out in front of the monkey’s smallpox before it becomes an epidemic.”
Public health activists in New York City revealed the existence of the million ready-to-send doses in a letter they sent to the White House on June 28 demanding that the FDA act, which they said was ignored.
President Biden was roasted by New York Democrats for smallpox vaccines. AFP via Getty Images
The White House defended the administration’s efforts to combat the smallpox outbreak while rejecting calls to allow the use of European inspections.
“The FDA is the gold standard and has an obligation to ensure that only products that meet its standards for the American people, including their vaccines, are available here,” said a spokesman, who refer questions about the details to the FDA.
An FDA spokeswoman said she “expedited” the inspection, but did not say whether it had begun or been completed or, if it was not yet underway, provided any details on when it could begin or how long it would take.
“This is a test case of how the U.S. responds to a new disease threat,” said Dr. Jay Varma, an infectious disease expert who helped monitor New York City’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. .
“The U.S. was as prepared as it could have been. It has a test, it has a vaccine, and it has a reserve. And yet we continue to see delays in the ability of the federal bureaucracy to deliver all those things that the taxpayer has paid to the people who need them most, ”he added. “If it were a smallpox bioterrorism attack, would we let the bureaucracy hold on to take the shots? This is a real national security issue.”
Daniel Goldman joined the New York Democrat Choir that spoke out against President Biden’s smallpox vaccine accident.Ron Sachs – CNP
Growing outrage over abandoned doses came as the number of cases of smallpox in the monkey continued to rise, reaching a total of 160 on Friday. This is 44% more than the 111 recorded on Tuesday, and almost double the 87 reported at that time last week.
And it comes as the local and federal response continues to be plagued by a national shortage of two-dose JYNNEOS inoculation, testing computer problems and issues with the city’s Department of Health provider who manages vaccination appointments.
The shortage is such that New York City, home to 8.8 million people, has so far received only 7,000 doses of vaccine and is delaying the scheduling of second injections to try to expand the number of residents who can get protection. partial dose.
Meanwhile, testing remains limited even when private labs go online because the only approved procedure requires patients to have lesions or eruptions that can be cleaned, limiting controls to advanced cases.
In turn, supply problems and scarce testing have made the vaccine the only safe answer the authorities can offer, but the company chosen by DOHMH to run the operation, MedRite, has seen its computer system suffered a series of high-profile failures.
The company has a $ 36 million contract with DOHMH that was initially to provide services related to the COVID vaccination campaign.
The agency on Friday declined to provide a copy of the contract for review and said it could only be obtained through an application under the Freedom of Information Act, a process that can take years.
Smallpox is a disease that is transmitted primarily by skin-to-skin contact, which can cause fever, flu-like symptoms, and is often characterized by painful lesions or rashes.
“Anyone can have and spread monkeypox,” DOHMH wrote in his most recent public guide.
He added: “Current cases are spreading mainly among the social networks of gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men, so this community is currently at greater risk of exposure.”
Public health officials have worked hard to emphasize that the virus can be transmitted as easily among heterosexuals as among gay men, among whom many of the first outbreaks were grouped.
Many of these early cases were traced back to parties, clubs or other activities in Europe that target gay men, especially younger men, where canoeing and other intimate contacts are frequent and often encouraged.