Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Senate To Convene Hearing On White House's Monkeypox Response
US lawmakers will look to press Biden administration health officials on their response to the growing monkeypox outbreak in a Senate hearing planned for next month, according to people familiar with the matter. The Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee is planning the hearing on monkeypox for mid-September, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public. (Muller and Baumann, 8/24)
More on the spread of monkeypox —
After about two months of rapid spread, San Francisco appears to be turning a corner on monkeypox, with early data showing the local epidemic may be slowing down. The number of new cases reported each week hit a high of 143 the week of July 24 and has tapered each week since, first to 87 cases, then 54 and then, last week, to fewer than five, according to figures provided by the San Francisco Department of Public Health. (Ho, 8/24)
The St. Louis County Department of Public Health on Wednesday launched an online data dashboard to keep residents informed about the county’s increasing number of monkeypox cases. (Munz, 8/24)
The number rose to 134 from 100, an undercount resulting from lags in testing and reporting, Cassius Lockett, the district’s director of disease surveillance and control, said in an interview. (Hynes, 8/24)
Three children in Georgia have been diagnosed with monkeypox, including one child who lives in metro Atlanta, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health. (Oliviero, 8/24)
With monkeypox on the rise, Lady Kay decided to hold off on meeting clients in hotel rooms or private dungeons. The 32-year-old dominatrix had already been taking precautions to protect herself from the coronavirus, insisting that clients show that they were vaccinated against COVID-19 or had recently tested negative. Now the South Los Angeles resident was worried about the newest outbreak — an infectious virus that can travel through skin-to-skin contact and has spread in intimate encounters. (Reyes, 8/24)
Aman from Italy has tested positive for COVID-19, monkeypox, and HIV all at the same time after returning from a short trip in Spain, according to researchers from the University of Catania in Italy. The scientists stated in the Journal of Infection that the 36-year-old man, who has not been identified, developed fever, a sore throat, fatigue, and headache as a result of the co-infection. (Khaled, 8/24)
On the monkeypox vaccine rollout —
The 2015 study being used to greatly expand the limited supply of monkeypox vaccine and hopefully slow down the global outbreak was led by St. Louis University. (Munz, 8/24)
The transition from Monkeypox Inoculation Plan A to Monkeypox Inoculation Plan B has been a smashing success—at least, if you ask federal officials. Just a few weeks ago, the U.S. had nowhere near enough of the Jynneos vaccine to doubly dose even a quarter of the Americans at highest risk of monkeypox, roughly 1.6 million men who have sex with men. (Wu, 8/24)
