Biden Names FEMA, CDC Officials to Lead Monkeypox Response
President Joe Biden on Tuesday appointed senior officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to coordinate the country’s monkeypox outbreak response.
The White House said FEMA’s Robert Fenton and the CDC’s Dr. Demetre Daskalakis as his deputy will coordinate strategies and operations to “combat the current monkeypox outbreak.”
This will include working to resolve vaccine supply and demand problems by “equitably increasing the availability of tests, vaccinations, and treatments.”
Fenton helped lead FEMA’s mass vaccination effort for COVID-19. Daskalakis runs the CDC’s HIV prevention division, is an expert in LGBT issues, and helped lead New York City’s COVID-19 response.
Monkeypox case numbers in the United States are currently over 5,800 since the first case emerged in May.
Dr. Demetre Daskalakis speaks at the press conference for New York City Pride on June 27, 2021. (John Lamparski/Getty Images)
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House’s medical adviser and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the pairing of Fenton and Daskalakis “is really a good combination,” The Associated Press reported.
“I personally think we’re dealing with a really serious issue here,” Fauci said, referring to the outbreak overall.
Health officials have emphasized that monkeypox can infect anyone and is not typically considered a sexually transmitted disease, but that is largely how it’s spreading.
The virus can also pass on through contaminated bedding, towels, and clothing. However, a major peer-reviewed study has found that the current outbreak is primarily being driven by the sexual activity of gay and bisexual men.
This might not always be the case, however, with a senior World Health Organization (WHO) official warning that “we should not expect that to remain such.”
Outreach to LGBT Community
Besides coming to a better scientific understanding of the current monkeypox outbreak, Fauci said
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