People of color more likely to get monkeypox but less likely to be vaccinated: CNN

WASHINGTON - Black and Hispanic people in the United States are more likely to get monkeypox but less likely to be vaccinated, CNN reported recently, citing data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

As of Friday, there are nearly 20,000 probable or confirmed cases of monkeypox in the United States, according to the CDC.

Among the cases in this outbreak, "no one's been hit harder than those who identify as Black or Latino/Hispanic," said the CNN report in the weekend.

Citing CDC data, the report said nearly 38 percent of monkeypox cases are among Black people, who only represent 12 percent of the US population, while Hispanic or Latino people making up 19 percent of the national population account for 29 percent of the cases as of Aug 27.

Taking cases in Philadelphia for example, 55 percent of monkeypox cases are in Black people, but only 24 percent of shots of vaccines went to Black people, according to the city's website.

In Atlanta, as of mid-August, 71 percent of monkeypox patients were identified as Black, while 46 percent of the vaccines have gone to Black people.

Chyke Doubeni, chief health equity officer at Ohio State University, commented that monkeypox "isn't the first disease to see such inequities" in different US races.

The CDC says racism, stigma, homophobia, poverty and limited access to health care continue to drive these disparities.