Gay, Bi Men More Critical of Government’s Response to Monkeypox
metroweekly.compoll from the Pew Research Center says that gay and bisexual men in the United States are more concerned about the recent monkeypox outbreak and are more critical of the U.S.
government’s response to the crisis.The United States officially declared the monkeypox outbreak to be a national health emergency in early August.
Two weeks earlier, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak to be a “global health emergency.”As of September 27, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that there had been more than 25,000 confirmed cases of monkeypox infection in the United States since the first reported case was confirmed in May.Globally, the overwhelming majority of confirmed monkeypox cases have occurred among men who have sex with men, which has led some LGBTQ organizations to call for greater government funding and intervention to ensure local health departments can test for the virus and connect at-risk populations with vaccines.
To assist in vaccination efforts, the Biden administration released 1.8 million additional vaccine doses to localities who have been offering vaccines at LGBTQ and Pride-themed events.This week, the Human Rights Campaign and the National Center for Lesbian Rights penned a letter, co-signed by more than 100 LGBTQ, public health, and religious advocacy organizations, calling on elected leaders to increase funding and push for more targeted action to connect at-risk populations with vaccines, noting that the virus is disproportionately impacting Black and indigenous communities and people of color, as well as people living with HIV even as the overall infection rate subsides.
