July 25, 2022 – The World Health Organization’s director-general on July 23 declared monkeypox a public health emergency of international concern after the agency’s emergency committee was unable to reach a consensus.
In June, when it first ruled the outbreak did not constitute the designation, global cases were just over 3,000. Cases have since surpassed more than 16,000 across 75 countries. WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared a global emergency after the committee was unable to reach a consensus during its most recent meeting, describing the global risk as “moderate” and citing the risk of further international spread.
“We have an outbreak that has spread around the world rapidly, through new modes of transmission, about which we understand too little, and which meets the criteria in the International Health Regulations,” Dr. Tedros said in a news release. “For all of these reasons, I have decided that the global monkeypox outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern.”
The CDC on July 22 confirmed two children are among those in the U.S. who have contracted monkeypox. Both children are connected “to individuals who come from the men who have sex with men community,” said CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, MD. “When we have seen those cases in children, they have generally been what I call ‘adjacent’ to the community most at risk.”
The U.S. has capacity for 80,000 tests per week, up from 6,000 initially. Dr. Jha told CBS News. HHS will release hundreds of thousands more doses of the Jynneos monkeypox vaccine in the coming weeks. The agency had distributed more than 300,000 doses to states as of July 22. As far as treatment is concerned, the CDC on July 22 said it is working with the FDA to make it easier to prescribe Tpoxx — the antiviral being used to treat monkeypox — after complaints from physicians over the lengthy process required to obtain a prescription.