ALBANY, N.Y. (WBEN/1010 WINS) — Gov. Kathy Hochul issued an executive order on Friday night declaring a state of emergency over the monkeypox outbreak in New York.
The order empowers public health officials and healthcare professionals to take additional steps to distribute vaccines and control the virus.
It expands who is eligible to administer monkeypox vaccines to include EMS, pharmacists and midwives.
The order also allows physicians and nurse practitioners to order vaccines even without a specific patient the vaccine is intended for.
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"After reviewing the latest data on the monkeypox outbreak in New York State, I am declaring a State Disaster Emergency to strengthen our aggressive ongoing efforts to confront this outbreak," Hochul said. "More than one in four monkeypox cases in this country are in New York State, and we need to utilize every tool in our arsenal as we respond.”
During a stop in Buffalo Saturday, Hochul said New York is the first state to declare an emergency for the disease and said a majority of the cases are being seen in New York City. "We have over 600 cases here," she added. "New York State has one out of four cases in America."
Hochul’s announcement comes a week after the World Health Organization declared monkeypox to be an international public health emergency.
On Thursday, the federal government announced it would be sending an additional 110,000 monkeypox vaccine doses to New York.
With the new shipment, the state will have received 170,000 doses total.
New York, and especially New York City, has become the epicenter of the outbreak in the U.S.
As of Friday, there were 1,345 cases statewide — the most of any state in the nation, according to the CDC.
New York City accounted for 1,289 of those cases.
Health officials warn many more infections are likely undiagnosed.
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