If we keep in mind that on the day the first COVID-19 case in the U.S. was confirmed, a notable "expert" told us on, Newsmax TV. "Bottom line, we don’t have to worry about this one, right?" asked Greg Kelly, the host. The reply was, "Obviously, you need to take it seriously and do the kind of things the (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and the Department of Homeland Security is doing. But this is not a major threat to the people of the United States and this is not something that the citizens of the United States right now should be worried about." So he did qualify his
response by saying, don't worry "right now."
A few days later that same "expert", gave an interview to John Catsimatidis, a syndicated radio host in New York. "What can you tell the American people about what’s been going on?" Catsimatidis asked. "Should they be scared?" "I don’t think so," he said. "The American people should not be worried or frightened by this. It’s a very, very low risk to the United States, but it’s something we, as public health officials, need to take very seriously."
Point being, never say never. It seems some in the field of science are beginning to hedge their bets regarding this. Take a look.
“The mistakes we saw during the COVID-19 pandemic are already being repeated,” said Dr. Boghuma Kabisen Titanji, an assistant professor of medicine at Emory University.
While rich countries have ordered millions of vaccines to stop monkeypox within their borders, none have announced plans to share doses with Africa, where a more lethal form of monkeypox is spreading than in the West.
Yet while monkeypox is much harder to spread than COVID-19, experts warn that if the disease spills over into general populations — currently in Europe and North America it is circulating almost exclusively among gay and bisexual men — the need for vaccines could intensify, especially if the virus becomes entrenched in new regions.
“Just asking countries to share is not going to be enough,” said Sharmila Shetty, a vaccines adviser for Medecins Sans Frontieres.
“The longer monkeypox circulates, the greater chances it could get into new animal reservoirs or spread to" the human general population, she said. “If that happens, vaccine needs could change substantially.”
“I really didn’t think this would spread very far because monkeypox does not spread like COVID,” said Salim Abdool Karim, an infectious diseases epidemiologist at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. “Africa should procure some vaccines in case we need them, but we should prioritize diagnostics and surveillance so we know who to target,” he said. “Normally, you’re able to get ahead of a disease like monkeypox, but I am concerned (the number of new cases) hasn’t started coming down yet.”
Public health officials warn that moves by rich countries to buy large quantities of monkeypox vaccine could leave millions of people in Africa unprotected against a more dangerous version of the disease.
www.nbcwashington.com
www.telegraph.co.uk
