Sen. Burr Calls Biden Admin's Monkeypox Response 'Behind the Curve' in Letter to HHS

Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., said the administration of President Joe Biden was "falling short" and "behind the curve" in how it is responding to the current monkeypox outbreak in the wake of what the country learned during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Despite the once in a century pandemic caused by a novel coronavirus, the U.S. response to an existing threat is falling short, failing to develop and issue a research plan to understand the threat and its characteristics, failing to rapidly engage the private sector to develop tests for the virus, and failing to make vaccines quickly available and help states effectively use them," Burr's letter Wednesday to Health and Human Services secretary Xavier Becerra said. "The United States is once again significantly behind the curve, failing to learn from the devastating effects of COVID-19, and other recent infectious disease threats."