Today the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared the spread of monkeypox to be a global health emergency, its highest alert designation, just days after Montgomery County’s Department of Health and Human Services announced that they had received a limited number of monkeypox vaccine doses that will only be offered to a limited number of eligible residents who are at highest risk of contracting the virus.
According to NBC News, the designation means the WHO “now views the outbreak as a significant enough threat to global health that a coordinated international response is needed to prevent the virus from spreading further and potentially escalating into a pandemic.” So far there have been more than 2,500 monkeypox cases reported across the United States.