The World Health Organization had a hard time deciding whether to label monkeypox a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) or not. That’s a rare designation, given to COVID-19 and a handful of other diseases such as swine flu in 2009, polio in 2014 and Ebola (twice). It carries binding legal commitments for member nations to act.
A majority of the WHO’s Emergency Committee, however, was unconvinced that monkeypox qualified. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who came under criticism for being slow to declare COVID-19 a pandemic and too deferential to China, cast the deciding vote. With a rising number of monkeypox cases around the world — some 16,000 have now been reported in 75 countries — the WHO chief clearly wanted to err on the side of caution.
It’s a tough call: If monkeypox fizzles, the WHO will be accused of crying wolf; if infections reach the millions, there will be questions about why intervention didn’t come earlier. Given the sluggish policy response so far, a kick in the behind is probably the right move.
