Biden says rising monkey pox cases 'something to be concerned about'

President Joe Biden says the possible spread of "monkey pox" worldwide is of concern.

"They haven’t told me the level of exposure yet, but it is something that everybody should be concerned about."

"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."

According to the New York Post, there are reserve supplies of a vaccine that would likely be very effective against the disease.

The White House's national security czar, Jake Sullivan, elaborated further during a press conference, saying, "We have vaccine available to be deployed for that purpose."

This mean, in the worst-case scenario, there won't be a delay in procuring vaccines due to a vaccine development cycle, as there was with COVID.

Sullivan also commented on his communications with the president, saying, "I’ve been out on the road, giving him updates based on the written inputs we are getting from our health and medical team and, you know, walking through with him what the current state of play looks like and, as we learn about cases both in the United States and elsewhere, making sure that he’s tracking the picture."

The Post goes on to report that, "although the disease belongs to the same virus family as smallpox, its symptoms are milder. People usually recover within two to four weeks without needing to be hospitalized, but the disease occasionally is deadly."