Democrat officials on the east and west coasts condemned the Biden administration’s failures to distribute the vaccine for preventing the spread of monkeypox in sufficient quantities. In California, officials in San Francisco fear widespread increases in the number of cases while New York City officials report a spike in infections.
California State Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) released a statement on Wednesday warning local health officials report they would run out of monkeypox vaccine later in the week.
“Today, the San Francisco Department of Public Health announced that the Department is about to run out of monkeypox vaccine,” Senator Wiener said in a written statement. “Its San Francisco General Hospital monkeypox vaccine clinic will be temporarily suspended after today (Wednesday).”
The senator said the exhaustion of the vaccine supply comes as San Francisco and other communities see increases in monkeypox infections and exposures.
“We need to be very clear where the responsibility lies for this completely avoidable situation: the federal government,” Wiener stated. “Failure to control this outbreak will result in intense — and completely unnecessary — misery for many people, particularly gay and bisexual men.”
At the other end of the country, New York City officials report the monkeypox virus is spreading at a rapid pace, Breitbart News reported. Cases in New York City account for a full 30 percent of all cases in the United States — 170 cases during the first two weeks of July.
NYC Health published a chart breaking down the demographics of the monkeypox cases in the city. Men account for 321 of the 336 reported cases (95.5 percent) as of July 13, the report states. The report states that no women contracted the virus during the reporting period. Health officials attributed the remaining to TGNCNB (Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Non-Binary) (7 cases), and Unknown (8 cases).
Officials attributed 60 percent of the cases (201) to the LGBQ+ community. Another 40 percent were classified as unknown.
Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) urged the Biden administration to ramp up access to the monkeypox vaccines. “We cannot wait any longer to take action against the spread of monkeypox,” the former mayor tweeted. “Invoke the Defense Production Act to fill the need for vaccines in the U.S. There really is no time to waste in a crisis like this, and there is so much that federal and city officials can do right now to get control of this crisis.”
“It was another day of meltdown in NYC‘s monkeypox vaccinatation [sic] effort, caused by severe lack of supply and failed scheduling technology,” Manhattan Borough President Mark D. Levine tweeted. He said the city is receiving only 10 percent of the vaccine doses being distributed while experiencing 30 percent of the cases nationwide.
De Blasio, an announced candidate for the state’s 10th Congressional District, called on the Biden administration to “invoke the Defense Production Act to fill the need for vaccines,” The Hill reported. “There really is no time to waste in a crisis like this, and there is so much that federal and city officials can do right now to get control of this crisis,” the former mayor said.
