The Biden administration is declaring a public health emergency over the monkeypox outbreak in the United States, which now has more infections from the virus than any other country in the world. The Secretary of Health and Human Services, Xavier Becerra, announced the decision Thursday in an informational meeting with the main public health officials.
“This public health emergency will allow us to explore additional strategies to get vaccines and treatments faster to affected communities. And it will allow us to get more data from jurisdictions so we can effectively track and attack this outbreak,” Robert Fenton. the White House’s newly appointed national monkeypox response coordinator, said at the briefing.
Over the past decade, national emergency declarations like this have previously been made only for the COVID-19 pandemic, the opioid crisis, and the 2017 Zika virus outbreak.
As he did with COVID-19, the official said Becerra’s decision to declare an emergency could unlock a wide range of flexibility in funding and regulations to respond to the spread of monkeypox.
The public health emergency declaration could pave the way for the CDC to deploy more staff to respond to the outbreak, officials said, as well as force hospitals to share more data to track monkeypox patients. It could also help pave the way for resources to increase vaccinations.
Since last week, the administration says it has distributed an additional 266,000 doses of the Jynneos smallpox vaccine to states and territories that have ordered doses. Another 150,000 doses originally planned for the Bavarian Nordic vaccine maker in October have been moved to September.
Federal health officials also told reporters they were weighing a separate move that would allow the Food and Drug Administration emergency use authorizations that could ease access to treatments and vaccines for the smallpox outbreak in monkey
One such authorization, first floated by a National Institutes of Health official earlier this week at a meeting with the World Health Organization, could allow vaccinators to quintuple their supply by injecting “intradermal” doses smaller in the skin, rather than “under the skin”. currently approved method for Jynneos.
“We feel very good about the intradermal approach and probably in the next few days, a short period of time, we will make a final decision on that,” said FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf.
Federal health authorities also have millions of years-old expired doses of Jynneos in storage, which are now being tested by Bavarian Nordic. If found viable, which a spokesperson acknowledged to CBS News earlier this month was “highly unlikely,” the doses could be cleared with an emergency use authorization.
Officials have said for weeks they were mulling the move as the number of cases has increased and demand for shots has far outstripped supply nationwide.
The move comes as a growing number of jurisdictions, including several states and cities, as well as the World Health Organization, have deemed the outbreak an emergency.
Dr. David Agus answers questions about smallpox and COVID-19 04:10
This week, President Biden also tapped officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the CDC to lead the country’s smallpox response from the White House.
On Wednesday, the CDC said it had recorded at least 6,617 infections nationwide. All but two states, Montana and Wyoming, have reported detecting at least one infection.
“We expect cases to continue to rise as we’ve had more access to testing, people have had more access to testing, before it goes back down,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said.
Most infections are still believed to be spread through intimate contact between men who have sex with men. Although no deaths have been reported, patients often suffer from rashes and painful lesions that can last for weeks.
Currently, the CDC estimates that 1.6 to 1.7 million Americans are in the groups currently prioritized for vaccination: people living with HIV, who are men who have sex with men, and others who are at high risk of HIV.
Doctors have also responded to a handful of infections in other groups at higher risk of serious illness, such as pregnant women and young children.
Beyond freeing up additional leverage in the federal bureaucracy to respond to the outbreak, officials said they hoped the statement would raise awareness about the growing outbreak.
“This is a very clear statement of the value of the lives of people who are part of the LGBTQ community,” said Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, the White House’s deputy coordinator for the monkeypox response.
At the moment, only about 10% of the country’s monkeypox testing capacity is being used, which equates to about 8,000 monkeypox case swabs per week. Officials say they expect the number of people with suspected monkeypox symptoms seeking diagnoses, as well as doctors moving to test for the disease, to increase in the wake of the declaration.
“I think along with moving forward and accelerating some of the work that we’re doing, I think it also represents an important commitment from the administration to the community,” Daskalakis said.
More Alexander Tin
CBS News reporter covering public health and the pandemic.