House Oversight chair urges HHS to declare monkeypox a public health emergency – Axios

Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) on Friday urged the Biden Administration to declare a public health emergency over the monkeypox outbreak.

The big picture: As case numbers continue to rise, the World Health Organization declared monkeypox a global emergency last week.

Driving the news: Maloney, who serves as the chair of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, called on HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra to declare an emergency so “the federal government can use every resource and tool available in its response and rapidly increase availability and access to vaccines, tests, and treatments nationwide.”

• “The federal government must take every step possible to mitigate the threat monkeypox poses to the health of people in the United States before it is too late,” Maloney said in a statement.

By the numbers: The U.S. currently has recorded 4,907 cases of monkeypox, according to the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control.

Go deeper: Monkeypox declared a global emergency by WHO