U.S. monkeypox response mirrors early coronavirus missteps, some experts say

U.S. monkeypox response mirrors early coronavirus missteps, experts say The Biden administration's response to the monkeypox outbreak raises concerns that the country is ill-prepared for the next major pandemic. Washington Post

Public health experts, including within the Biden administration, are increasingly concerned that the federal government’s handling of the largest-ever U.S. monkeypox outbreak is mirroring its cumbersome response to the coronavirus pandemic 2½ years ago, with potentially dire consequences.

As a result, they said, community transmission is occurring largely undetected, and the critical window in which to control the outbreak is closing quickly.

“It’s been unbelievably challenging,” said Lauren Sauer, director of the Special Pathogens Research Network within a government-funded consortium of medical centers focused on pathogens training and education. “It felt like January 2020 all over again.”

More than 150 monkeypox cases have been identified in the United States since May 19, federal officials said this week, and more than 3,300 cases have been detected in 42 countries around the world.

The rapidly rising global case counts have prompted the World Health Organization to convene an emergency committee on Thursday to assess whether the monkeypox outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern — the agency’s highest-level warning, which currently applies only to the coronavirus and polio.

Some of the most populous states have reported the most cases of probable monkeypox so far -- California, New York, Illinois, Florida and Massachusetts are the states with more than 10 apiece. Cases are listed in 24 states and the District.

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But as other nations have ramped up their efforts to track and prevent the spread of infection, experts say the United States has moved too slowly to expand access to monkeypox testing and vaccinate people at highest risk. The government’s failure to clearly and urgently communicate the symptoms and risks associated with monkeypox, a disease spread by close contact that can lead to fever, pain and a visible rash, has left gay and bisexual men, who are disproportionately contracting the virus, especially vulnerable, public health experts say.

The plodding U.S. response so far raises doubts about the country’s preparedness for the next pandemic, some administration officials say.

Communication about whom to test, when to test them and what monkeypox symptoms look like has been dismal, said Sauer, a public health expert at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Biden administration officials on Wednesday said that they have amply prepared for a monkeypox outbreak, touting the government’s efforts to acquire more vaccine doses, warn the public about the emerging outbreak, and begin distributing tests to commercial labs across the country this week. They also insisted their response reflected lessons learned from fighting coronavirus, such as waiting to distribute the “right test that works” to laboratories after federal officials distributed flawed coronavirus tests in early 2020.

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