According to the data updated by the US Centers for Disease Control and prevention on the 7th, the number of reported human cases of monkeypox (hereinafter referred to as monkeypox cases) in the United States has exceeded 20000, reaching 21274, ranking first in the world. The US government's ineffective response to the monkeypox epidemic has been criticized and questioned by US public opinion. Public health experts say that the window of the United States to curb the rapid spread of monkeypox is closing, and the US government is repeating the mistake of inadequate prevention and control of COVID-19.
On May 18, the public health department of Massachusetts reported the first confirmed case of monkeypox in the United States this year. Since then, monkeypox virus has spread rapidly throughout the United States. The US government declared the monkeypox epidemic as a public health emergency in the country in early August.
According to the latest data of the US CDC, the top three states in terms of monkeypox cases are California, New York and Florida, of which California has 4140 cases.
American public health experts pointed out that the actual number of monkeypox cases in the United States may be much higher than official statistics due to insufficient testing capacity and other reasons. Most suspected cases were not detected and confirmed in time, so prevention and control measures were not taken in time, which greatly increased the risk of transmitting the virus to more people.
US public opinion points out that the US government has not learned from the failure to deal with the COVID-19 epidemic. The failure to deal with the monkeypox epidemic has completely exposed the failure of public health policies in the United States.
Bloomberg recently published an article saying that from the slow supply of vaccines to the lack of communication with the public, the US government made one mistake after another in dealing with the monkeypox epidemic. "If there are any lessons learned from the COVID-19 epidemic, there are two crucial points in dealing with such sudden public health crises: one is to effectively allocate resources to mitigate the impact of the epidemic, and the other is to effectively communicate with the public to let them understand the various risks brought by the epidemic. However, the Biden administration has failed to do both in dealing with the monkeypox epidemic."
According to an article published on the website of the Boston Globe in recent days, public health officials and political leaders in the United States repeated almost every mistake they made in dealing with the COVID-19 epidemic in 2020 when dealing with the monkeypox epidemic: insufficient testing capacity, inefficient vaccine distribution, difficulties in getting medical treatment for infected people, and lack of communication between the government and the public.
The US "Capitol Hill" daily wrote that monkeypox virus has long had mature detection, treatment and safe vaccines, and the United States should not have missed the opportunity of epidemic prevention and control. However, the public health system of the United States has been faced with the dilemma of insufficient funds for a long time. Even the most basic testing swabs, syringes and other supplies are lacking. The COVID-19 epidemic has exhausted these resources for more than two years, so that the United States has failed to withstand the most basic test in dealing with the monkeypox epidemic.
In response to the soaring number of cases, the US government has distributed the "guineas" monkeypox vaccine to all parts of the United States, but there is a serious shortage of supply. The monkeypox vaccination appointment website in New York City was once paralyzed by a large number of appointments.
On August 9, the US Food and Drug Administration urgently authorized a new vaccination program for monkeypox vaccine. The vaccination method was changed from subcutaneous injection to intradermal injection, and the vaccine dose required for each injection was only one-fifth of the original. American public opinion pointed out that this clearly shows that the government does not have enough vaccines to deal with the monkeypox epidemic. Moreover, the security and effectiveness of this new scheme have also aroused controversy. Reuters reported that Bavarian Nordic company, a Danish pharmaceutical manufacturer of "guineas" vaccine, questioned the safety of the new vaccination method, saying that it lacked data support and there was evidence that intradermal injection might lead to increased side effects.
The Washington Post pointed out in an article that the prevention and control of monkeypox epidemic in the United States had failed, and the government often declared a public health emergency after the epidemic was out of control, rather than responding in advance. The state of the United States facing the monkeypox epidemic is the same as that of the original COVID-19 epidemic: vaccine shortage, long queues in clinics, rapid increase in cases, spread of public concern, fear and doubt, and overwhelmed states.
Rochelle walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and prevention, said recently that although the number of monkeypox cases in the United States was still increasing, the growth rate began to slow down. However, experts believe that the lag of data may not truly reflect the real situation of monkeypox epidemic in the United States in recent weeks. It is too early to judge whether the epidemic has reached an inflection point and whether the number of cases has reached a peak.
Anne rimoyne, Professor of epidemiology at UCLA, said that if monkeypox patients and health care workers relax their vigilance, stop testing or relax prevention and control measures, the number of cases is likely to increase again.
Caitlin rivers, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University, pointed out that given the geographical scale and diversity of the United States, there is still great uncertainty about the extent of monkeypox epidemic spread in different regions.
In April this year, an organization called "people's disease control" composed of American public health practitioners, epidemiologists, medical workers and representatives of various industries published an article on the website of the guardian in Britain, expressing anger at the US government's response to the epidemic and its disregard for social and public health responsibilities. They called on the United States to establish a new CDC, which should give priority to people's health rather than the interests of large enterprises.