Biden Administration Increases Access to Monkeypox Treatment
monkeypox a global health emergency, making clear that the growing number of cases calls for an international response. The outbreak has mostly affected men who have sex with men.
Now the federal government is working on making the treatment more accessible as the queer community pays close attention to the outbreak.Dr.
Rachel Levine, assistant secretary for health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, told The Advocate that the LGBTQ+ community in particular is highly aware of public health.“I think that’s a legacy of HIV,” she said.Whereas in the 1980s, the public health community wasn’t engaging with the LGBTQ+ community and vice versa, now they communicate and work in tandem to promote positive health outcomes, she said.“Over the last number of decades, Dr. [Anthony] Fauci and many others, [including] Dr. [Rochelle] Walensky, worked their career to conquer HIV,” she said. “And I think our community has been very plugged into public health.” Fauci is director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the chief medical adviser to the president, and Walensky is director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.But with attention comes criticism.Some have argued that President Joe Biden's administration should have done more faster, especially given the lessons that government agencies should have learned from the previous administration’s failures in responding to the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic.Levine referred The Advocate to an HHS fact sheet that outlines the specific steps the federal government has taken, but she highlighted a few points.She said the government has taken vital steps in vaccines, testing, and making treatments such as the smallpox medication.
