The Monkeypox Virus Is Now Just ‘MPox,’ Because Racism

The World Health Organization on Monday announced that after nearly five months of deliberation, it has changed the name of the monkeypox virus. The new name is “mpox.”

A group of scientists in June said the word “monkeypox” is “discriminatory and stigmatizing,” leading WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to say the organization would rename the virus “as soon as possible.”

“As soon as possible” took until Monday, when the WHO said it recommends the term “mpox” instead, claiming that using “monkeypox” led to “racist and stigmatizing language.” It also recommends a “transition period of one year” to phase out the word “monkeypox.”

The Biden administration reportedly pressured the WHO behind closed doors to change the name, with Politico reporting the White House worried that “the virus’s name was deepening stigma.”

This is not the first time the WHO has expressed left-wing views. Tedros, who formerly served as an Ethiopian cabinet minister for a communist political party, covered up for Communist China in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Washington Free Beacon reported.

The WHO is not alone in thinking the word “monkeypox” is discriminatory. The New York City Department of Health said the word may be “painful and racist” for “communities of color.” The department did not mention that the virus got its name because scientists first “observed the pox-like disease in an African monkey colony,” as the Free Beacon reported in June.

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