Monkeypox cause for ‘concern’: prez

President Biden said the increasing spread of monkeypox, which has been detected in the United States and Europe, is something “to be concerned about.”

Biden was asked during a stop in South Korea on Sunday what his health advisers have been telling him about the disease that rarely spreads beyond Africa.

“They haven’t told me the level of exposure yet, but it is something that everybody should be concerned about,” Biden told reporters at Osan Air Base before boarding Air Force One to fly to Japan. “We’re working on it hard to figure out what we do and what vaccine, if any, may be available for it. But it is a concern in the sense that if it were to spread, it’s consequential.”

Jake Sullivan, the White House national security adviser, said the US is prepared and has a supply of “vaccine that is relevant to treating monkeypox.”

“We have vaccine available to be deployed for that purpose,” Sullivan told reporters aboard the flight to Japan. He said the president is being updated.

There have been 92 confirmed cases of monkeypox worldwide, with another 28 suspected cases, as of Saturday, the World Health Organization said.

A New York City patient tested positive for a family of viruses that includes monkeypox, but it’s unclear if the person has the illness.