(KRON) — The San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH) issued a statement in response to the World Health Organization (WHO) declaring the monkeypox outbreak a “global health emergency” on Saturday. SFDPH says more support must be provided to local governments to end the crisis.
The acknowledgement of World Health Organization that monkeypox is a global emergency only re-enforces that the way to address this health emergency is to provide the resources necessary to local governments, especially cities such as San Francisco that are experiencing an increase in cases.
San Francisco Department of Public Health
At this time, SFDPH reports that San Francisco “lacks sufficient vaccine supply for the number of people who need the vaccine.” Only 4,164 vaccine doses from the federal stockpile were provided to San Francisco by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), and as of July 23 only 7,700 doses of the drug have been administered in San Francisco. At this time, SFDPH is requesting 35,000 doses to try to meet the need in the area.
@WHO has declared #monkeypox a public health emergency of international concern. This week @ZSFGcare provided more than 2,500 vaccines. We will open Mon, July 25 at 8am, until supply allows. We are awaiting info on our next vax allotment from the federal gov't pic.twitter.com/WM1bTmAcvO
— SFDPH (@SF_DPH) July 23, 2022
SFDPH notes that local health departments will need to work with frontline responders to stop community spread. As of July 23 San Francisco has 197 cases of monkeypox, but SFDPH believes the case numbers will grow.
