NYC congressional candidate Bill de Blasio blasts Biden administration’s ‘incoherent’ monkeypox response as city cases tick up

Former Mayor Bill de Blasio rebuked President Biden’s administration Monday for holding off on importing millions of monkeypox vaccine doses from Denmark as New York City continues to see a steady uptick in cases of the viral disease.

“It’s head-spinning. It’s incoherent,” de Blasio said of the feds’ decision during an afternoon news conference in City Hall Park.

The Biden administration has roughly 17 million doses of monkeypox vaccine — including 1 million shots vialed, packaged and ready for delivery — stockpiled at a manufacturing plant in the Scandinavian nation, White House officials confirmed last week. The administration is not shipping them to the U.S. immediately because the Food and Drug Administration failed to inspect the doses and the plant before a previous certification expired.

But de Blasio, who’s in the midst of a heated Democratic primary campaign for New York’s 10th Congressional District, noted that the European Union’s medical agency recently certified the doses and pleaded with the Biden administration to accept that inspection.

“That to me is a no-brainer when a crisis is already upon you,” he said.

Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio in front of City Hall in Lower Manhattan, New York on July 11, 2022. (Chris Sommerfeldt/)

A Biden administration official said last week that the president does not have any plans to override the FDA and rely on the EU agency’s certification. The official did say that the FDA is expediting an inspection of the plant outside the Danish capital Copenhagen, but would not provide a time line for completion.

Monkeypox, which has primarily spread among men who have sex with men, causes blister-like rashes, fever and other symptoms. New York has emerged as an early U.S. hotspot for the disease since it began spreading across the globe this summer, with 223 confirmed infections reported in the city as of Monday, according to the Health Department.

EXPLAINER: What is monkeypox and should New Yorkers be worried?

In addition to highlighting the Danish doses, de Blasio held the news conference outside his old workplace to lay out a series of steps he believes Mayor Adams’ administration could take to streamline the city’s monkeypox response.

Under current federal guidance, the city has to set aside second monkeypox vaccine doses for individuals who get their first shots.

But, as the city grapples with continued supply shortages, de Blasio suggested Adams should drop the second dose requirement and instead focus on getting as many first doses into arms as possible.

“Even the first dose provides coverage, support, protection,” he said, adding that it makes sense “in an atmosphere like this, when there’s a huge lack of vaccine, to hold back that second dose.”

People wait in line to enter the Chelsea Sexual Health Clinic in Manhattan, New York on July 08, 2022. The clinic is one of two locations currently administering a vaccine for monkeypox in NYC. (Michael M. Santiago/)

The former mayor said he spoke with Adams about moving to a one-dose policy earlier Monday. Adams expressed support for the idea, de Blasio added.

Later Monday, Adams issued a letter to Biden asking his administration to “consider alternative vaccine schedules” that would allow the city to adopt a plan similar to the one floated by de Blasio.

But de Blasio told reporters he was able to adopt a similar policy for coronavirus vaccine doses last year without getting a green light from the feds and urged Adams to follow his lead.

“Take action now. Ask permission later,” the ex-mayor said.

President Joe Biden (Evan Vucci/)

As de Blasio was speaking in City Hall Park, the Health Department announced it had secured another 14,500 doses of monkeypox vaccine that will become available at sexual health clinics in Harlem, Chelsea and Corona, Queens, this week.

Asked about those doses, de Blasio said, “That’s great, but it should be single dose.”

In addition to vaccine policy amendments, de Blasio called on Adams to reopen a number of sexual health clinics in the city that have been shuttered due to staffing issues.

Reopening the clinics would allow the city to run a public information campaign tailored to the LGBTQ community, de Blasio said.

“This city had a long history of very effective sexual health clinics,” he said. “It’s time to go back to that model.”