The Biden administration announced steps to beef up the country's response to monkeypox, detailing plans to offer more vaccines and tests to people most at risk of getting the virus. This is great news for parents who are growing concerned about the global outbreak.
Bloomberg reported that even though monkeypox has been spreading primarily among men who have sex with men, health officials warn that the virus can infect anyone, including children and women. And as the global outbreak of monkeypox grows, experts are starting to see that happen.
According to Krutika Kuppalli, an adviser to the World Health Organization (WHO), two pediatric monkeypox cases have been detected globally thus far, out of thousands of cases. One case was reported in the Netherlands, and the other was reported in France over the weekend.
Pediatric cases of monkeypox rising
Another pediatric case may have transpired in Spain, with the country's situation report listing the age range for its monkeypox patients as 3 to 67. It is essential to remember that monkeypox does not spread the same way as COVID-19. For a kid to get infected with monkeypox, they would likely need to have sustained, close contact with someone who has contracted the virus or comes into direct contact with someone who has infectious sores.
The move of the Biden administration to take proactive measures against the virus comes after pressure from states, who have been pushing the U.S. government to release more doses of monkeypox vaccine from the Strategic National Stockpile that is managed by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Critics have also claimed that the U.S. is not offering enough testing to monitor the spread of the monkeypox virus, which is thought to be more widespread than the current case counts suggest, according to CNN.
The new plan tackles both of those requests. The Biden administration will not only release more vaccines to areas with the highest case rates, but it will also scale up testing, making tests available at five commercial laboratories. That is in addition to an existing network of public health laboratories.
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WHO warns monkeypox virus could move into high-risk groups later
The HHS also activated the Emergency Operations Center of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to give the federal agency more flexibility and manpower to manage the country's monkeypox response.
According to CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, vaccination after exposure or using vaccines for post-exposure prophylaxis reduces a person's risk of becoming infected with a monkeypox virus and then becoming sick. Walensky added that vaccination should occur within two weeks of possible exposure, and the sooner a person can get vaccinated after the exposure, the better.
Though the number of pediatric cases in this monkeypox outbreak is at the moment very low, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he is worried that sustained transmission results in the virus establishing itself. That means it could move later into high-risk groups such as pregnant and immunocompromised people.
