More than two years of COVID-19, and people are thinking about the virus differently.
This month the US declared monkeypox a public health emergency, and people at high risk of getting the virus — especially those who have sex with men — are lined up city streets to get vaccinated. An avian flu outbreak that pushed egg prices even higher is finally coming to an end. Polio resumed in New York. And then there’s SARS-CoV-2, which is still infecting about 93,000 people a day in the US
“These types of outbreaks and diseases get more attention,” said Chris Meakins, health policy analyst at Raymond James. “Where we’ve been historically, there’s just more attention.”
There are several factors that help explain some of the activity we are seeing. Research suggests that climate change and changes in land-use patterns may put the virus at greater risk of jumping from animals to humans. Some people hesitate to vaccinate themselves and their children. And it has become clear that public-health bodies will have to rethink their approach to the outbreak.
Just last week, Dr. Rochelle Valensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, called for a restructuring of the public-health agency.
“It’s time to replace the CDC,” she told employees, according to the New York Times.
However, for now, the focus is on encouraging vaccination whenever possible.
Although some people are hesitant to vaccinate, the pandemic has also slowed the use of medical services, and this includes childhood vaccinations. A study published last year in JAMA Pediatrics found that rates of infants, children, and teens in the US who were up-to-date on their vaccinations in the fall of 2020 compared to 2019 were up-to-date. By the end of 2020, the World Health Organization called for measles and polio campaigns to be stepped up around the world despite the pandemic.
“It’s a wake-up call,” said Dr. Peter Salk, president of the Jonas Salk Legacy Foundation and son of Jonas Salk, the developer of the polio vaccine. Start waving red flags and immediately run for this place or that place. ,
That said, Salk recommends boosters for people who are at high risk of polio infection. (This is similar to the CDC’s recommendation.)
Polio is in New York.
New York health officials last month reported a case of polio in an unvaccinated resident of Rockland County, which is north of the Bronx borough of New York City.
He also noted that the polio virus, which causes paralytic polio, has been found in New York City’s wastewater. It has also been found in wastewater in Rockland and Orange counties, both of which have polio vaccination rates among 2-year-olds that are well below the state average of 78.9%. As of August 1, the state figures do not include New York City. Orange County has a rate of 58.7%, while Rockland County has a rate of 60.3%.
State health commissioner Dr Mary Bassett described the wastewater monitoring data as “alarming, but not surprising”.
Polio vaccines, which have been around since the 1950s, are included in the childhood vaccination program. However, only 86% of New York City children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years have received all three doses of the polio vaccine.
“The problem you are facing and why polio and other diseases like this are probably going to be a little bit more prevalent, have you really politicized vaccines, this politicization of public health activities, to the extent that the population There’s a group like that, we won’t listen to that anymore,” Meakins said.
Monkeypox is now a public health emergency in the US
Within months of the first warnings outside Europe, more than 14,000 people in the US have been diagnosed with the poxvirus, which was first detected in 1970 and was endemic in parts of Africa as of Thursday. Around 40,000 people have tested positive worldwide, and 12 have died.
Unlike SARS-CoV-2, however, the US already has vaccine and treatment options for the virus. There are two shots: Bavarian Nordic ka Bava,
-2.85%
Genios, and Emergent BioSolutions’ EBS,
-1.37%
Smallpox Vaccine, ACAM2000. antivirals that treat smallpox such as Siga Technologies’ SIGA,
+0.35%
Tpoxx and Chimerix’s CMRX,
-3.95%
Tembexa is expected to be effective against monkeypox.
Although Wall Street analysts say they don’t expect monkeypox to become a health concern for all Americans, the outbreak has raised further questions about whether the US is at risk of the virus going forward. How to answer.
“How will public health apply lessons from COVID to shape a more effective response to monkeypox and future public health crises?” Cowen analysts wrote in a note to investors last week.
(This story has not been edited by seemayo staff and is published from a rss feed)