President Biden and HHS Secretary Becerra declared a US Monkeypox Public Health Emergency in 2022 and let the declaration expire early in 2023. The crisis conjured up little fear for the average American as it was learned that the infection was largely a pustular rash that occurred with intense sexual contact among gay/bisexual men with the skin blisters around the anus and buttocks or mouth. The CDC controlled PCR testing, the primary drug tecovirimat, and the Bavarian Nordic Jynneos vaccine. As of January 10, 2024, CDC stopped updating Monkeypox data because of low-level transmission of the clade 2 subtype in the U.S that resulted in 32,063 cases and 58 deaths largely among men with advanced HIV disease.

A report by Kannan et al, indicated that what happened in 2022 almost certainly occurred because of a gain-of-function mutation in one or more genes within the Monkeypox virus. The authors do not speculate on whether this happened in a laboratory or in nature.