White House names monkeypox coordinator as US cases climb
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President Joe Biden on Tuesday named Robert Fenton as the White House national monkeypox response coordinator and Demetre Daskalakis, MD, MPH, as the deputy coordinator.
Fenton is a regional administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) with more than 25 years of experience in federal emergency response, the White House said. He led the agency’s mass vaccination efforts for the COVID-19 response.
Daskalakis is the director of the CDC’s Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention and a “widely known” national expert on health issues affecting the LGBTQIA+ communities, the White House noted.
In their new roles, “Fenton and Daskalakis will lead the administration’s strategy and operations to combat the current monkeypox outbreak, including equitably increasing the availability of tests, vaccinations and treatments,” the White House said.
“Bob Fenton and Dr. Daskalakis are proven, effective leaders that will lead a whole of government effort to implement President Biden’s comprehensive monkeypox response strategy with the urgency that this outbreak warrants,” Anthony S. Fauci, MD, chief medical advisor to the president and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in a release.
“From Bob’s work at FEMA leading COVID-19 mass vaccination efforts and getting vaccines to underserved communities to Demetre’s extensive experience and leadership on health equity and STD and HIV prevention, this team will allow the Biden administration to further accelerate and strengthen its monkeypox response,” Fauci said.
Since the first case was confirmed in May, 5,811 cases of monkeypox have been reported in the U.S. — including at least two among children. More than 23,000 have been reported globally.
Efforts in the U.S. to stop the spread have included expanding testing capacity, issuing travel alerts, expanding access to vaccines, and ordering additional doses.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, MSc, has declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, and several U.S. states have declared their own states of emergency.
References:
CDC. 2022 U.S. map & case count. https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/response/2022/us-map.html. Accessed on Aug. 2, 2022.
CDC. 2022 monkeypox outbreak global map. https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/response/2022/world-map.html. Accessed on Aug. 2, 2022.
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