The administration of US President Joe Biden has declared monkeypox a public health emergency.
This was announced by the Minister of Health and Humanitarian Affairs Javier Becerra, according to world agencies.
“We are ready to take our responsibility to the next level in the fight against this virus, and we are calling on every American to take monkeypox seriously and take on the responsibility of helping us deal with it,” Becerra said.
The decision is under review for several weeks and aims to potentially streamline the disease and ease access to vaccines, which no longer need to go through the normal federal review process.
The order will also allow the government to be more flexible in the distribution of its available vaccines.
Although officials have said about 1.6 million Americans are at risk of contracting monkeypox, only 550,000 doses of the vaccine are available in the US.
On July 23, the World Health Organization declared monkeypox a global public health emergency.