This is on point, I'm Megna Chakrabardi. It's an eerily familiar story. First, there was

one case, almost three months ago, back on May 7th. Health authorities say a patient

is being treated in isolation in London after being diagnosed with monkeypox. The UK Health

Security Agency said the individual had recently traveled to Nigeria and is believed to have

caught the virus before coming to England. It said monkeypox did not spread easily between

people and the risk to the public was very low.

However, just 11 days later, on May 18th, the first cases were reported in Portugal, Spain,

and in the United States. Four days after that, May 22nd, while on an Asia trip, President

Biden took this question at Osan Air Base in South Korea.

There are in fact two vaccines approved for monkeypox. The FDA approved them in 2019. But the

very next day, Biden switched his messaging entirely, pivoting from concern to comfort.

The US has enough vaccine to, quote, deal with the likelihood of a problem Biden said in

Tokyo, quote, I just don't think it rises to the level of concern that existed with COVID-19.

Thus far, it doesn't seem to be a need for any kind of extra efforts beyond what's

going on. End quote.

Well, the disease spread. By June 16th, the US passed 100 cases. As of yesterday, that

number stood at 4,639. Worldwide, it's nearly 20,000. So over the weekend, the WHO declared

monkeypox a global health emergency. But the Secretary General, Dr. Tedros Adonome

Cabraceus, said there is still hope of containment.

This is an outbreak that can be stopped. If countries, communities, and individuals inform

themselves, take the risk seriously and take the steps needed to stop transmission and

protect vulnerable groups. The best way to do that is to reduce the risk of exposure.

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