White House sees light at the end of the monkeypox tunnel
A controversial decision to split vaccine doses into fifths and use an intradermal injection method appears to have paid off. | Joe Raedle/Getty Images By Adam Cancryn 12/27/2022 04:31 AM EST Link CopiedIn early August, as he prepared to take the stage at an international AIDS conference in Montreal, Demetre Daskalakis caught a brief glimpse into his immediate future.Protesters had stormed the room, chanting as they commandeered the microphone.
For the next 10 minutes, they took turns railing against the Biden administration’s response to the spiraling mpox outbreak, accusing its leaders of standing by as the crisis worsened.“Once again, you dropped the ball,” one protester shouted from behind a sign that declared: “BIDEN YOU FAILED THE MPOX RESPONSE.”For Daskalakis, it was a visceral reminder of the depth of the challenge awaiting him.
A gay man and longtime public health official, he’d spent decades working alongside these activists fighting against diseases like HIV/AIDS and now, mpox, that primarily impact the LGBTQ community.But he’d also just agreed to take on a top administration job that would make him responsible for managing the mpox crisis — and a fresh target for the frustration and anger on display in front of him.
On Aug. 2, the day after his appearance in Montreal, the administration officially announced Daskalakis as the deputy coordinator for its response to mpox, the virus known then as monkeypox.“It was like, I know that I’m going to the White House!” Daskalakis said in a recent interview, recalling his thought process as he watched the scene unfold.If the episode illustrated the perils of his new position, it also provided clues about how to approach it.
