Shortly after New York City’s mayor declared a local state of emergency on Monday due to the growing MPV (monkeypox) outbreak, gay talk show host Andy Cohen used his platform to speak out on the topic.
That same evening, the reality TV producer and host of Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live! took a moment during the show to relay a message to his fellow LGBTQ+ community members, who’ve been the most vulnerable to the virus so far. Cohen also shared the clip to his social media channels with the caption, “A word about monkeypox.”
“After what’s been an abysmal response from our government so far, I’m hoping this new order will help our leaders actually deal with this threat,” said Cohen, who’s been known to speak his mind on social and political issues. He also appealed to the U.S. federal government to “deploy badly needed resources like vaccines which have been very hard to come by.”
He then turned his attention to the queer community, saying, “I want to speak to my gay brothers for a minute; we need to take this seriously because this is affecting us at much higher rates than others right now. So be aware, get vaccinated if you can, and please — I know it’s summer and we all have COVID fatigue — but please be safe and don’t take unnecessary risks.”
“I call on the government and the media to not stigmatize our community, which is already under attack from many who would rather use us as a scapegoat than help us,” concluded Cohen. “And if you are not a gay man you might think this doesn’t affect you now, but this is everyone’s problem because — as we have learned from very recent history — unless we act now these things can get a whole lot worse very quickly.”
Watch the full clip here:
For the latest info on MPV (monkeypox virus) visit CDC.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox. You can also CLICK HERE to read Plus magazine's recent articles on this developing situation.
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