The United States offers an indecisive response to the monkeypox epidemic, whose number of confirmed cases has jumped to 700 in two months since the case was first detected, and clinics in the country are struggling to meet demand for vaccines effective, the US news site The Hill reported on Monday.
“Some public health experts and patients say more needs to be done, warning that the mistakes made during the COVID-19 pandemic are now being repeated,” he said.
The monkeypox virus is less contagious than COVID-19 and it mainly affects only one community so far: men who have sex with men, however the United States has withheld lessons from the coronavirus pandemic which should still help the country keep monkeypox under control, experts say.
“What’s probably most significant to me is the lack of testing. We’ve seen in COVID that every case detected acts like a canary in a coal mine, that everyone is really just the tip of the line. ‘iceberg,” said Leana Wen, a research professor of health policy and management at George Washington University.
Last week, Labcorp, one of the largest laboratory testing networks in the United States, announced that it would begin testing for monkeypox using tests provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (CDC). This company will be able to carry out 10,000 screenings per day.
