On August 19, NPR reported that the number of confirmed cases of monkeypox in the United States has been the highest in the world. A series of mistakes made by the government in the early stage of the anti epidemic campaign have led to a serious shortage of vaccines and serious racial differences in distribution.
According to the report, the federal government of the United States ordered vaccines very slowly, and the distribution of vaccines in various states has been in a state of chaos for a long time. Today, the number of confirmed cases of monkeypox in the United States has exceeded 14000, but health departments in many places have reported that there is not enough vaccine to cover high-risk people.
In order to alleviate the "vaccine shortage" crisis, on August 9, the US health department announced that it was allowed to change the injection method of monkeypox vaccine, so that the dose was divided into five to increase the supply. However, many medical personnel have questioned this. Some people think that the actual effect is lack of data support. In addition, new syringes and needles need to be used during the actual operation. The change of injection methods also means that medical personnel need to receive additional training.
The report also said that Latinos and African Americans are at higher risk of contracting monkeypox virus, but their vaccination situation is not optimistic. The survey results released by the health department of North Carolina on August 10 showed that 70% of the monkeypox patients in the state were African Americans, but only 24% of the vaccines were vaccinated by African Americans. Data from Chicago showed that 30% of the monkeypox patients in the city were Hispanic, but only 15% of the vaccine went to this population. The racial differences in vaccine distribution have caused the colored communities to have a strong sense of unfairness and suspicion of the government.