California News: Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday declared a state of emergency over monkeypox. An action aimed at boosting California’s efforts to secure vaccines and manage the outbreak.
California is the second state to declare a state of emergency over the disease, after New York, which took the step over the weekend. Local emergencies were declared by New York City and San Francisco.
“California is acting urgently at all levels of government to slow the spread of monkeypox,” the governor said in a statement.
He said the state will ensure that vaccination efforts focus on those most at risk of the disease using testing, contact tracing, and community participation developed during the Covid-19 pandemic.
New York and California have been the epicenter of the virus
As of Monday, about 1,500 cases of monkeypox have been reported in New York City, with most cases among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men.
As of Thursday, nearly 800 cases have been confirmed or suspected in California, according to health officials. Los Angeles and San Francisco have the most cases.
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While pressure is mounting on the state to declare a public health emergency. State health officials offered an update on their response to the vaccine on Friday, but declined to make a declaration.
Supplies of vaccines to help control the spread of the disease have dwindled. According to the Newsom administration, the state has so far received 61,000 doses of the vaccine from the federal government. The state has distributed more than 25,000 doses of the vaccine and additional distributions will be made in the coming days and weeks.
Monday’s announcement will enable emergency medical services workers to administer the monkeypox vaccine, which is approved by the FDA, similar to the recently implemented legal authority for pharmacists to administer the vaccine.
Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), who on Monday called for a $38.5 million emergency budget to help counties respond to monkeypox, praised Newsom for declaring the emergency.
“The monkeypox outbreak is an emergency, and we need to use every means possible to contain it,” Weiner said.
