Biden to name top FEMA, CDC officials to lead US monkeypox response
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Healthcare workers at tents where individuals are registered to receive the monkeypox vaccine on July 29 in New York City.
PHOTO: AFP
WASHINGTON (REUTERS) - US President Joe Biden is set to name top officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to head the response to monkeypox, the Associated Press reported on Monday (Aug 1).
Mr Robert Fenton, acting administrator at FEMA who helped lead mass vaccination effort for Covid-19 in February 2021, will serve as the White House coordinator to head the monkeypox response.
Mr Fenton's deputy will be Dr Demetre Daskalakis, the director of the CDC's HIV prevention division, the news agency reported.
The duo will coordinate on "strategy and operations to combat the current monkeypox outbreak, including equitably increasing the availability of tests, vaccinations and treatments," the White House told AP.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters for comment.
More than 3,500 monkeypox cases have been reported in the US since the first case was confirmed in Massachusetts on May 20.
The disease, which causes flu-like symptoms and skin lesions, has been declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organisation.
