Monkeypox cases have surged in the United States. Experts believe the epidemic has been out of control

According to the CDC, 1814 monkeypox cases had occurred in the United States as of July 15. These cases are distributed in 43 states of the United States, Washington and Puerto Rico, of which New York state is the most serious, with 489 cases. U.S. public health experts are concerned that the U.S. government has been too slow to respond to monkeypox, and the United States is at risk of losing control of this disease. The mistakes made in responding to COVID-19 are repeating.

Recently, the number of confirmed cases of monkeypox in New York City has increased rapidly. On July 17, three mass vaccination sites were opened in New York City, but on July 15, 9200 reserved places were sold out in 10 minutes. New York governor horchu said that the federal government would deliver another 32000 doses of vaccine to New York City. With the surge of monkeypox cases in the United States, the problem of vaccine shortage has become prominent.

The US "Capitol Hill" reported that infectious disease experts and public health advocates warned that the Biden administration was too slow to respond to the monkeypox epidemic. They said that the U.S. government's response to monkeypox reproduced the worst response in the early days of the COVID-19 in the United States. The serious shortage of testing and the slow promotion of vaccines led to the spread of the virus without detection.

David Harvey, executive director of the National Alliance of STD directors, said that the U.S. government was "bureaucratic and slow" in providing simplified testing, vaccines and treatment methods. "This means that we have not controlled the epidemic.".

The "Capitol Hill" reported that some experts said that the number of confirmed cases of monkeypox in the United States "is almost certainly underestimated", because many people who may be infected have not yet obtained extensive testing channels. The U.S. government is stepping up its response by expanding testing capabilities and vaccination coverage, but critics say, "these efforts may come too late.".

At present, the U.S. government has been criticized in monkeypox virus testing, vaccine distribution and other aspects. On the one hand, monkeypox virus detection is insufficient. The U.S. government began distributing monkeypox test samples to commercial laboratories in late June. It took more than a month to achieve this measure, and the testing capacity of the entire U.S. medical system increased from about 8000 tests per week to 10000 tests. The public health laboratory network is also unevenly distributed, mostly concentrated in urban areas such as New York City, resulting in a backlog of tests that take several days to produce results. Monkeypox virus detection is a relatively simple process, but the CDC has strictly limited the groups that can be detected.

On the other hand, U.S. health experts criticized that the U.S. government acted too slowly and the new vaccination strategy was far from enough. The United States Department of health and human services said on June 28 that the United States would immediately release 56000 doses of smallpox vaccine produced by Bavaria Nordic company from the national strategic reserve. On July 7, the Department announced an additional supply of 144000 doses of the smallpox vaccine. Harvey said, "we believe that the epidemic has been out of control. We have not contained it. At this point, the vaccine will not contain the epidemic, because we do not have enough vaccines.".

U.S. health experts criticized that the United States has not learned from the COVID-19, but is repeating the mistakes. James kleenstein, the co-founder of the AIDS prevention organization "prepare for all", said that for a month, they have been shouting loudly about how bad the clinical situation of monkeypox is. "This is indeed an obvious mistake, a mistake that could have been prevented". It is obvious that the U.S. government "did not learn from the early COVID-19 epidemic".

CBS reported that some public health experts "saw the shadow of covid COVID-19" from the hesitant response of the U.S. government. Greg Gonsalves, an associate professor at Yale School of public health, said that six weeks have passed, "we still have problems in testing and vaccine supply, all of which we have seen in COVID-19". Jon Andres, a visiting professor at George Washington University, said, "I think we will continue to repeat these mistakes. We have experienced five to six waves of COVID-19, and every time we seem to be a little caught off guard."