President Joe Biden, in his first public comments on monkeypox, which has been identified in parts of Europe and the United States, said that the disease was something to be concerned about.

Ahead of his first trip to Asia, Biden met troops at Osan Air Base in South Korea, where reporters questioned him about the viral zoonosis. “They haven’t told me the level of exposure yet but it is something that everybody should be concerned about,” Biden said, adding that work was currently underway to determine what vaccine might be effective against the illness. 

The President had earlier explained that monkeypox was not as alarming as Covid-19. “I just don’t think it rises to the level of the kind of concern that existed with Covid-19,” he was quoted as saying. Biden further mentioned that the US had enough small pox vaccine stockpiled to deal with the outbreak. 

As per WHO’s statement, there are currently 92 confirmed cases of monkeypox in the world spread across 12 countries. “The situation is evolving and WHO expects there will be more cases of monkeypox identified as surveillance expands in non-endemic countries,” the organization said.