The Health Secretary asked Congress and local governments to do more to stop the disease.

As of this morning, the United States is currently leading the world in monkeypox cases, with approximately 4,639 cases recorded across 46 states, particularly in densely populated metropolitan areas like New York, California, and Texas.

Yesterday, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra publicly called on both Congress and the local governments of the individual states to take greater efforts toward halting and containing the spread of monkeypox.

“We don’t control public health in the 50 states, in the territories and in the the tribal jurisdictions. We rely on our partnership to work with them. They need to work with us,” Becerra told reporters.

“We have communicated to Congress what we believe would be a good path forward on monkeypox, what it would take in terms resources and authorities to be able to move forward and stay ahead of monkeypox and to end this outbreak.”

After CDC Director Rochelle Walensky admitted that the supply of viable vaccines was being exceeded by the demand earlier this month, medical providers have been working to increase production. According to Becerra, production has reached the point where it can keep pace with the demand.

“We’ve made vaccines and treatments well beyond the numbers that are currently needed available to all jurisdictions who manage their public health systems and are the ones that work with clinicians to make all three — the tests, the treatments and the vaccines — available.”

“We believe that we have done everything we can at the federal level to work with our state and local partners and communities affected to make sure we can stay ahead of this outbreak,” Becerra said. “But everybody’s got to take the oar and row. Everybody’s got to do their part.”