California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for monkeypox on Monday as the virus quickly spreads across his state and the nation.
The Democrat said the emergency declaration will expand the pool of medical personnel eligible to vaccinate Californians against the virus, allow the state to seek more vaccines, and lead education efforts on where people can get treatment and vaccinations for monkeypox. Health authorities have reported 827 confirmed cases of monkeypox in California and more than 5,800 cases nationwide.
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“We’ll continue to work with the federal government to secure more vaccines, raise awareness about reducing risk, and stand with the LGBTQ community fighting stigmatization,” Newsom said in a statement announcing the state of emergency declaration.
California has received more than 61,000 doses and has distributed more than 25,000 doses of the two-dose Jynneos vaccine, manufactured by Danish biotech company Bavarian Nordic. The Jynneos vaccine is the only monkeypox vaccine approved by the Food and Drug Administration in the United States.
California’s state of emergency would grant medical personnel such as pharmacists the ability to administer the vaccine.
Newsom’s declaration follows similar public health emergencies over monkeypox that have been declared in New York and Illinois.
New York, which has reported the most monkeypox cases in the country with nearly 1,400 confirmed cases, declared a state disaster emergency on Friday. Illinois, third in the nation in cases with 520, declared a public health emergency earlier on Monday.
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Monkeypox can spread through skin-to-skin contact, though primarily through intimate contact. Symptoms include headaches, fever, swollen lymph nodes, and rashes, which culminate in painful lesions that typically last from two to four weeks, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
Though anyone can be susceptible to the disease, nearly all cases are in gay or bisexual men, according to health officials. Data from New York City found that nearly 98% of cases were in men, with just 1.4% identifying as heterosexual.
