*Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser is hoping to get ahead of a potential monkeypox outbreak by calling for 100,000 doses of a vaccine to respond to the virus.
There are more than 1,800 cases in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“We already have a very robust testing regime, and we’ve modeled it on what we were able to do with COVID,” Bowser told CBS News “Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan. “And we’re going to continue to test, and I think because of that robust testing, we’re going to see more cases, but we want people to pay attention on to ways to protecting themselves, especially by getting vaccinated when the vaccine is available.”
Bowser said the city has 8,000 Monkeypox vaccine doses, and there are currently 108 confirmed cases in DC, as reported by BET.
READ MORE: Human-To-Human Monkeypox Transmission Spotted In U.S. | VIDEO
Washington D.C. needs about 100,000 doses of monkeypox vaccine to address the “current target population,” says Mayor Muriel Bowser. pic.twitter.com/0WxmZPmsIr
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) July 17, 2022
Bowser noted that increased testing will likely result in an increase in reported cases.
We reported previously, per TMZ, that “the first case of monkeypox in the United States this year was detected on May 17 when a Massachusetts man tested positive after coming back from Canada … the Massachusetts Department of Public Health says he’s hospitalized in good condition.”
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention released the level-2 alert in June advising people to “practice enhanced precautions” — and warning that it “is fatal in as many as 1 to 11% of people who become infected.”
“Some cases were reported among men who have sex with men,” the health authority said, as reported by the New York Post.
According to numerous reports, several monkeypox cases stem from same-sex sexual activity at raves in Europe.
Monkeypox can be transmitted from infected animals to humans, as well as between humans through skin-to-skin contact and an infected person’s droplets.
The White House is planning to ship thousands of monkeypox vaccines nationwide, BBC reports. There have been 306 cases, and no deaths, in the US so far. Health officials have warned that this number is probably higher.
There have reportedly been over 4,700 cases reported across 49 countries since May.
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