After global monkeypox infections passed 1,000 cases across 29 countries, the CDC hiked the alert level to "practice enhanced precautions" June 6.
The updated advisory recommends travelers to wear masks and avoid contact with sick people experiencing skin lesions. While "the risk to the general public is low," the next level for the monkeypox outbreak is for people to "avoid nonessential travel," according to the CDC.
HHS has 36,000 monkeypox vaccines on standby.
Some health leaders worry about the lack of proactive measures.
"There's so little testing, especially in U.S., which hasn't deployed a test and requires samples be sent to CDC (like outset of COVID), that we should assume [a] large underestimate of cases; this has been circulating for while, and only became apparent when super spread events occurred," Scott Gottlieb, MD, former FDA commissioner, tweeted June 5.