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Transcript/ScriptBIDEN-Pandemic
HEADLINE: US Expands Monkeypox Response After WHO Declares Emergency
TEASER: White House ramping up monkeypox testing, treatment and vaccines
PUBLISHED: 7/25/2022 at 10:19 pm
BYLINE: Anita Powell
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: the White House
VIDEOGRAPHER: AP
VIDEO EDITOR:
SCRIPT EDITORS: Jepsen, Sharon Shahid
VIDEO SOURCE (S): AP, AFP, ZOOM (WITH LICENSE)
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV _X_ RADIO __
TRT: 3:10
VID APPROVED BY: wpm
TYPE:
EDITOR NOTES:))
((INTRO:)) [[President Joe Biden continued Monday to recover from his bout with COVID-19 as the U.S. faced a new health threat after the World Health Organization chief declared monkeypox a public health emergency of international concern. Is the U.S. ready for a new viral outbreak? VOA’s Anita Powell reports from the White House.]]
((NARRATOR))
Ready or not, here comes monkeypox.
On Saturday, the head of the World Health Organization declared the virus, which is endemic to central Africa and has infected more than 16,000 people in 75 countries, a public health emergency of international concern. Monkeypox arrived in the U.S. in mid-May, and there are now about 3,000 cases here.
The health organization’s previously declared emergencies were for the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa and the Zika virus that hit Latin America in 2016.
The White House’s top pandemic coordinator says the U.S. is ready.
((Radio: Dr. Ashish Jha, White House COVID-19 response coordinator))
((Dr. Ashish Jha, White House COVID-19 response coordinator))
“We're going to continue working on increasing access to testing, vaccines and treatments and making sure that Americans understand what risks and challenges this virus faces and what the administration is doing to respond to it.”
((NARRATOR))
Symptoms resemble the flu, plus a rash that looks like pimples or blisters.
But doctors say this is not a pandemic in the making. Unlike COVID-19, monkeypox is only spread through close contact and has a developed vaccine.
The Biden administration says it hopes to have access to more than 6.9 million vaccine doses by mid-2023 and that health departments are offering more than 1.7 million courses of treatment for free.
Dr. Jha said the administration is also looking to accelerate a global response, though he did not provide specifics in response to VOA’s question.
((Dr. Ashish Jha, White House COVID-19 response coordinator))
“We continue to have strong partnerships with multiple countries around building up laboratory capacity, that same testing capacity we're talking about here in the United States. It's really essential that other countries have that, as well. We're continuing that work. This outbreak obviously now is in many, many other countries, as well. And so, we're in constant conversations with our European colleagues, with colleagues in other parts of the world. I think this public health emergency declaration will also further galvanize global response.”
((NARRATOR))
Doctors say it doesn’t matter what this outbreak is called, what’s imperative is that health systems stop this disease, which actually originates in rodents, not monkeys.
Doctors have advised proactive global vaccination campaigns. So far, the bulk of American and European cases are among men who have sex with men, which has added stigma to the challenge of stopping the virus.
((Radio: Dr. Amesh Adalja is a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security at the Bloomberg School of Public Health))
((Dr. Amesh Adalja, Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security))
“If the U.S. government wants to be serious about controlling monkeypox, they have to find a way to control it at the source. And that will require vaccinating individuals in
endemic countries much more broadly than has been done in the past. And I think that's a legitimate action to take at this point.”
((NARRATOR))
But as the Biden administration knows, viruses are wily foes. Just last Thursday, coronavirus invaded a new host: the president. He said Monday that he’s improving and has been working in isolation.
((Joe Biden, US President))
”I'm feeling better every day. I still have this, a little bit of a sore throat and a little bit of a cough, but it's changing significantly. It's now up in the upper part of my, my throat. Actually, it's more around my nose than anywhere else but they tell me that's par for the course. And I think I'm on my way to a full, total recovery, God willing.”
((NARRATOR))
He added that he hopes to return to work in person by the end of the week.
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Location (dateline)the White House
Embargo DateJuly 25, 2022 23:26 EDT
Byline((Anita Powell, VOA News, the White House))
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
