He also referred for the first time to the global increase in cases of this rare infectious disease on Sunday, while boarding Air Force One to fly from South Korea to Japan, on the next leg of his visit to Asia.
“I haven’t been told the level of exposure yet, but it’s something everyone should be concerned about,” he told reporters.
He added: “It is a concern in the sense that if it were to spread it would have consequences.”
On the other hand, he stated that the US authorities are “working very hard on it to find out what we do and what vaccine, if any, may be available for it”.
Biotech company Bavarian Nordic revealed this week that the US government had placed a US$119 million order for its Jynneos vaccine.
Another $180 million is ready and waiting for more vaccines if and when they are needed, allowing the country to purchase 13 million doses for the American people.
The Jynneos vaccine is a smallpox vaccine and is already licensed for use in the US.
According to the CDC, the smallpox vaccine is at least 85 percent effective against monkeypox.
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan confirmed to reporters on Air Force One on Sunday that the US has vaccines available to treat a possible outbreak.
On Biden’s knowledge of the matter, he mentioned: “He is constantly being informed of this.”
The president’s comments come after CDC official Jennifer McQuiston said “the general public need not worry” about the sudden increase in infections of this rare disease.
The deputy director of the Division of High Consequence Pathogens and Pathology, within the CDC’s National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, told CNN on Thursday that the appearance of cases in countries where monkeypox does not originate “is a very unusual situation,” but that there was “no immediate risk” to the public.
“Monkeypox is normally only reported in West Africa or Central Africa, and we don’t see it in the United States or Europe – and the number of cases that are being reported is definitely off the charts for what we would see.” he explained.
“At the same time, not many cases have been reported, I think maybe a dozen or two dozen, so the general public need not worry about the immediate risk of getting monkeypox.”
On Friday, New York City health authorities announced that a patient had tested positive for a virus related to monkeypox.
The city’s health department tested two patients for monkeypox, and one of them was ruled out as negative, while the second tested positive for Orthopoxvirus, the family of viruses to which monkeypox belongs. bow.
Until then, the patient is in isolation and is presumed positive, likely making him the second known case in the US this year, after a Massachusetts man became the first confirmed case on Wednesday.
Source: Ambito
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