Monkeypox: New York health commissioner requests WHO to rename virus to avoid stigma

In an effort to avoid stigmatising patients who could delay seeking care, New York City has requested the World Health Organization (WHO) to rename the monkeypox virus on Tuesday (July 26). In a letter to WHO Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, New York City public health commissioner Ashwin Vasan stated, “We have a growing concern for the potentially devastating and stigmatizing effects that the messaging around the 'monkeypox' virus can have on... already vulnerable communities.” Vasan further stated in his letter that the WHO had suggested changing the name of the virus, connected to smallpox, during a press conference last month, AFP reported.

Currently, with 1,092 infections discovered so far, New York has more cases of the illness than any other city in the US. So far, no deaths have been reported in Europe or the United States.

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Vasan, pointing to facts, said that contrary to what the name might imply, monkeypox did not actually first appear in primates, and recalled the negative impacts of misinformation during the early stages of the HIV epidemic along with the racism that the Asian communities dealt with when former leader Donald Trump referred COVIF-19 as ‘China virus.’

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Vasan said, “painful and racist history within which terminology like (monkeypox) is rooted for communities of color." He stated that continuing to use the term might reignite traumatic feelings of racism and stigma, particularly for Black people and people of other tones, LGBTQIA+ communities and that it is possible that they may refrain from access to vital health care services.

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The virus has been a long epidemic in Central and Western Africa and can affect anyone, but has primarily affected men in Europe and US who had sex with other men. Jynneos, a smallpox vaccination that has been shown to protect against monkeypox has been given in small doses in New York to mostly gay and bisexual males.

So far, the WHO reported that 16,000 confirmed cases of the virus have been reported in 75 countries.

(With inputs from agencies)

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