New York City health officials called on the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) to rename monkeypox, citing the “stigmatizing effects” the virus’s name may have on “vulnerable communities.”
The call to rename monkeypox comes as 1,092 New York City residents have tested positive for the virus, according to city data. New York City’s health department website also refers to monkeypox as “Orthopoxvirus.”
In a letter sent to W.H.O. Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, New York City Health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan urged the name change, citing “the stigma it may engender” and the name’s “painful and racist history.”
“Further, we have a growing concern for the potentially devastating and stigmatizing effects that the messaging around the ‘monkeypox’ virus can have on these already vulnerable communities,” Vasan wrote.
We're calling on @WHO to act immediately to rename the “monkeypox” virus. We have a growing concern for the potentially stigmatizing effects that the messaging around the “monkeypox” virus can have on vulnerable communities. Read our letter: https://t.co/hC6L8o60TH pic.twitter.com/G8CQ9ueaMJ
— Commissioner Ashwin Vasan, MD, PhD (@NYCHealthCommr) July 26, 2022
Commissioner Vasan noted that the W.H.O. previously proposed changing the virus’s name in a June press conference.
Vasan said:
NYC joins many public health experts and community leaders who have expressed their serious concern about continuing to exclusively use the term “monkeypox” given the stigma it may engender, and the painful and racist history within which terminology like this is rooted for communities of color.
Vasan argued monkeypox is a “misnomer” because the virus does not originate in monkeys, rather the infection was seen in research primates.
Although Vasan noted that monkeypox transmission “is concentrated among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men,” he also argued the name would “reignite these traumatic feelings of racism and stigma” for “Black people and other people of color.”
Vasan wrote:
Continuing to use the term “monkeypox” to describe the current outbreak may reignite these traumatic feelings of racism and stigma — particularly for Black people and other people of color, as well as members of the LGBTQIA+ communities, and it is possible that they may avoid engaging in vital health care services because of it.
The letter also alluded to former President Donald Trump’s use of the term “China Virus” during the coronavirus pandemic being a link to increased hate crimes against Asians in New York City and warned the same might happen to members of the gay community.
“We fear the consequences due to ‘monkeypox’ related stigma may be exacerbated given that in many contexts, transmission is concentrated among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men,” Vasan added.
The New York City health commissioner argued that “words can save lives or put them at further risk; thus, the world cannot repeat these mistakes in nomenclature again.”
Jordan Dixon-Hamilton is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jdixonhamilton@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter.
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