US plans to end monkeypox public health emergency in January

The federal government plans to end the public health emergency declared earlier this year in January. smallpox outbreak infected more than 29,000 people in the US

Smallpox cases have dropped sharply in recent weeks, with only a handful of new infections each week in November, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At the height of the outbreak, in the summer, hundreds of people were infected weekly.

The virus has mainly spread among men who have sex with infected men.

Labeled tubes "Monkeypox virus positive and negative" seen in this illustration taken May 23, 2022.

This illustration, taken on May 23, 2022, shows test tubes labeled “Positive and Negative Monkeypox Virus”.
(REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration)

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The public health emergency is expected to end in January, Health and Human Services Minister Xavier Becerra said in a statement.

“Given the low number of cases today, HHS does not anticipate that it will need to extend the state of emergency when it ends on January 31, 2023,” Becerra said. “But we are not slowing down – we will continue to closely monitor trends and encourage all at-risk individuals to receive the free vaccine.”

The US struggled to contain the smallpox outbreak for many months. Tests have been hard to come by and the government has messed up the rollout of the vaccine, with weeks of delay in getting 800,000 doses of shots to clinics in major cities that have been hardest hit.

The tide began to turn in August, shortly after the government declared a public health emergency and the White House brought in two senior officials, Robert Fenton, who headed the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Vaccine Efforts Against COVID-19, and etc. Demeter Daskalakis of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is to lead the response to the virus outbreak.

This image provided by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) shows a color transmission electron micrograph of monkeypox particles (red) found in an infected cell (blue) cultured in the laboratory, which were captured and color enhanced at NIAID.  Integrated Research Facility (IRF) at Fort Detrick, Maryland.

This image provided by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) shows a color transmission electron micrograph of monkeypox particles (red) found in an infected cell (blue) cultured in the laboratory, which were captured and color enhanced at NIAID. Integrated Research Facility (IRF) at Fort Detrick, Maryland.
(NIAID via hotspot)

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Their strategy included going to local clinics and vaccinating people at Pride events or parades. As the two-dose Jynneos vaccine became more widely available across the country, the number of cases rose.

To date, 17 people have died from the virus in the United States.

Ending the mpox public health emergency will be a test run of sorts for the Biden administration as it prepares to announce the end COVID-19 public health emergencywhich is expected to last until at least January. eleven

A health worker prepares a monkeypox vaccine in Montreal, Saturday, July 23, 2022.  On Thursday, San Francisco declared a state of emergency due to the virus.

A health worker prepares a monkeypox vaccine in Montreal, Saturday, July 23, 2022. On Thursday, San Francisco declared a state of emergency due to the virus.
(Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP, file)

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The administration did not say when it would declare an end to the coronavirus public health emergency, but promised no later than 60 days’ notice.

Last month The World Health Organization has renamed monkeypox as mpox, citing concerns that the animal disease’s original name, which has existed for decades, could be construed as discriminatory and racist.