Federal health officials expressed cautious optimism Friday about the trajectory and spread of the monkeypox outbreak, emphasizing that increased vaccination, harm reduction behaviors and educational and outreach efforts appear to be helping to curb the spread.
“We’ve started to see globally that we may be turning a corner,” Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said during a White House Monkeypox Response Team briefing.
Walensky pointed to drops in cases in some European countries and local reports from major U.S. cities including New York, Chicago and San Francisco. “We’re watching this with cautious optimism, and really hopeful that many of our harm reduction messages and our vaccines are getting out there and working,” she said.
