Monkeypox: US declares health emergency over virus outbreak

The US has declared a public health emergency to bolster the federal response to the outbreak of monkeypox that already has infected more than 6,600 Americans, according to an announcement by Secretary Xavier Berra, US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

The announcement will free up federal funding and resources to fight the virus, which may cause fever, body aches, chills, fatigue and pimple-like bumps on many parts of the body. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity ahead of the announcement.

The declaration comes as the the Biden administration has faced criticism over the pace of vaccine availability for monkeypox. Clinics in major cities like New York and San Francisco say they haven’t received enough of the two-shot vaccine to meet demand and some have had to stop offering the second dose of the vaccine to ensure supply of first doses.

The White House said it has made more than 1.1 million doses of vaccine available and has helped to boost domestic diagnostic capacity to 80,000 tests per week.

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