Health

(NEW YORK) — Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, ending nearly five decades of a precedent that protected the constitutional right to an abortion, there has been a lot of public debate and confusion over what constitutes an abortion and what is considered legal.

Emergency contraceptive medications such as Plan B, also known as the morning-after pill, taken to prevent pregnancy after unprotected intercourse, have also been falsely interpreted by some as a form of abortion.

With no exact consensus, some states have defined “life” as beginning at conception or fertilization — the moment egg meets sperm. Meanwhile, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) — the nation’s leading physician group for OB-GYNs — says complex medical concepts are being “misused” by state legislators.

“Conception and pregnancy are not the same thing,” said Dr. Elizabeth Schmidt, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology and director of family planning at North Shore University Hospital in New York. “Conception is not a medically recognized term.”

But doctors say the debate about when life begins shouldn’t have any bearing on Plan B, which works to stop pregnancy even earlier in the process — before fertilization, or conception.

What is Plan B?

Plan B is a progesterone hormone, which prevents ovulation or the release of an egg when taken at the appropriate time. This effectively prevents fertilization or the meeting of the sperm and egg for pregnancy. If taken after ovulation has already occurred, Plan B has no effect and there is no evidence that it harms an already established pregnancy, according to ACOG.

“Pregnant people make progesterone, and Plan B is a type of progesterone, so it makes sense that it would have no effect on a developing embryo,” Schmidt told ABC News.

Why is it confused with abortion?

Some of the confusion may stem from the Food and Drug Administration’s own website, which explains that Plan B “may prevent a fertilized egg from attaching to the womb (implantation).” The problem, experts say, is that this description is not accurate.

When the FDA first approved emergency contraception back in the late 1990s, it wasn’t totally clear how the pills prevented pregnancy, said Susan F. Wood, Ph.D., George Washington University professor and former director of the FDA’s Office of Women’s Health.

Now, she said, “new evidence [that has] been around for about 10 years now has shown that actually, Plan B works, probably essentially only through that first mechanism — blocking ovulation.”

Still, the FDA’s statement has been interpreted by some to imply abortion, resulting in objections to Plan B.

How does Plan B work?

“When used as emergency contraception, Plan B only affects ovulation,” Schmidt said. “Studies have failed to show any effect from levonorgestrel on the uterine lining when used as a one-time dose in emergency contraception.”

In a 2001 study published in Contraception, scientists looked at 45 women who were treated with short-term levonorgestrel administration — the same hormone found in Plan B — and observed no impairment in the lining of the uterus whether levonorgestrel was administered around or after ovulation. Previous studies on monkeys and rats have also failed to show a significant effect of the levonorgestrel hormone on uterine lining to prevent the implantation of a fertilized egg.

Taken collectively, this evidence suggests Plan B works primarily on the first step in the process — preventing the body from releasing an egg in the first place, or ovulating.

If the body has already released an egg prior to taking Plan B, the drug does not stop an egg from meeting sperm, and it does nothing to prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus.

Wood said given the current legal environment, the FDA should consider updating the language on its website “to pull Plan B out of the line of fire” from anti-abortion groups.

When reached for comment by ABC News, an FDA spokesperson did not comment directly on the language on its website but emphasized that “emergency contraception is used to reduce the chance of pregnancy after unprotected sex.”

“Plan B is an extremely safe medication and there are no medical contraindications to its use. It is safer than Tylenol — which is sold over the counter without restriction,” Schmidt said.

Although contraception currently remains legal throughout the U.S., the growing abortion restrictions in the country are now bringing some forms of contraception into question.

In his concurring opinion on the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that in the future, the court should reconsider other “demonstrably erroneous” precedents, including the 1965 ruling in Griswold v. Connecticut, which protects the right of married couples to buy and use contraception without government restriction.

“Limiting access to any medical care can have disastrous effects on communities,” Schmidt said. “It has been shown that states with restricted access to abortion also have higher rates of maternal and infant mortality. The situation is going to get even worse by prohibiting access to emergency contraception and abortion, which will disproportionately affect the most vulnerable and disadvantaged.”

Dr. Esra Demirel is a fellow in Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery at NYU Langone Health and is a contributor to the ABC News Medical Unit.

ABC News’ Anne Flaherty contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — A French-based pharmaceutical company announced Monday that it has asked the Food and Drug Administration to sell over-the-counter birth control pills in the U.S., making it the first business to file an official application.

Perrigo’s HRA Pharma said it hopes that regulatory approval comes early next year.

“This historic application marks a groundbreaking moment in contraceptive access and reproductive equity,” Frédérique Welgryn, chief strategic operations and innovation officer at HRA Pharma, said in a statement.

“More than 60 years ago, prescription birth control pills in the U.S. empowered women to plan if and when they want to get pregnant,” Welgryn said. “Moving a safe and effective prescription birth control pill to OTC will help even more women and people access contraception without facing unnecessary barriers.”

Currently, hormone-based birth control pills require a doctor’s prescription because of health concerns such as blood clotting in some women. But most doctors say the risk is minimal for the vast majority of the population and note that pregnancy can carry its own significant health risks.

Reproductive rights advocates say an over-the-counter pill would make it easier for women without access to health care to obtain contraceptives.

“In the wake of the overturn of Roe v. Wade, we must pull out all the stops to make it easier and more affordable for everyone to secure contraception and take bold steps to protect women by ensuring that health — not politics — guides medical decisions,” said Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat.

The FDA did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 65.3% of women aged 15 to 49 use contraception, with 14% taking pills.

The move comes weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which granted people a constitutional right to an abortion for nearly 50 years.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell had said it was a relief, calling Roe v. Wade “one of the most egregious legal and moral mistakes of the 20th century.”

The fallout from Roe’s reversal has many people worried that the Supreme Court will overturn other constitutionally protected rights.

In his concurrent opinion, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas called for the court to reconsider other cases, including Griswold v. Connecticut, which gave married couples the right to use contraception.

He also asked the court to reconsider Lawrence v. Texas, which protects the right to same-sex romantic relationships; and Obergefell v. Hodges, which establishes the right to same-sex marriage.

“In future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell. Because any substantive due process decision is “demonstrably erroneous,” we have a duty to “correct the error” established in those precedents,” Thomas wrote.

ABC News’ Kiara Alfonseca contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — Health officials are once again raising the alarm about the threat of a resurgence of COVID-19 infections across the country, as concerns grow about the new omicron subvariant, BA.5, which is now the dominant viral strain in the U.S.

The BA.5 variant, first detected in South Africa earlier this year, is currently estimated to account for more than half — 53.6% — of all new COVID-19 cases in the states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

BA.5 appears to have a growth advantage over the original omicron variant, according to the World Health Organization, and scientists are closely monitoring the increase in reported cases observed in many countries across the globe.

At this time, BA.5 does not appear to have increased in severity, but officials have previously stressed that research on the new subvariant is still in its “early days,” and much remains to be learned about it.

As BA.5 spreads, a growing proportion of U.S. counties are seeing increases in infections and related hospital admissions.

Nearly three-quarters of the U.S. population is now living in a county with a high or medium community risk level for COVID-19, as defined by the CDC, federal data shows. About one-third of those people — 31.9%– are living in a high-risk community, while 41.6% are living in a medium-risk county.

A high community level suggests there is a “high potential for health care system strain” and a “high level of severe disease,” and the CDC recommends that people wear a mask in public indoor settings, including schools. A medium-risk level suggests there is “some impact on [the] health care system,” and “more people with severe disease.” Under the CDC’s official guidance, individuals considered at “increased risk” are advised to speak with their health care provider about whether to wear a mask.

Counties on both coasts — most notably in California, Montana, New Mexico and Oregon — are moving up and entering the high-risk level. In Florida, nearly every county is currently considered high risk. Puerto Rico and California currently lead the nation in new cases per capita, followed by New York City, where officials are once again urging residents to wear high-quality masks in indoor public settings and around crowds outside, amid a renewed surge of infections in the city.

“We’re currently seeing high levels of COVID-19 in NYC. To help slow the spread, all New Yorkers should wear a high-quality mask, such as an N95, KN95 or KF94 in all public indoor settings and around crowds outside,” the New York City Health Department wrote in a tweet on Friday, after the city moved back into the high-risk level.

The average number of new cases across New York City is up by 25% in the last two weeks, according to federal data. City data also shows that an average of 15% of reported tests are now coming back positive, marking the highest seven-day positivity rate in months.

Nationally, the country is currently reporting an average of more than 100,000 new cases each day. However, health officials say that the total is likely significantly undercounted.

As previously reported, dozens of states have moved to shutter public testing sites, with more at-home COVID-19 tests now available in pharmacies and through the federal testing program. Most Americans are not reporting their results to officials, and, thus, experts said infection totals are likely significantly undercounted.

Last week, White House COVID Response Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha told NBC News that hundreds of thousands of COVID-19 infections are likely going undercounted.

“There’s no question in my mind we are missing the vast majority of infections right now,” Jha said. “The truth is there are probably several hundred thousand — 400,000; 500,000 infections a day happening across the country.”

The concerns over BA.5 come amid the nation’s continued push to get people vaccinated. Although the U.S. is set to roll out new bivalent vaccines in the fall, which will address omicron, millions of eligible Americans are still without their additional shots.

To date, less than half of eligible Americans — 49.5% or 108.6 million people — have received their first booster. Similarly, less than one-third — 29.5% or 42.2 million — of eligible Americans over the age of 50 have received their second booster.

Overall hospitalization numbers and death rates have yet to see a significant resurgence, though experts say metrics may also be undercounted, due to a lack of reporting from states.

As of July 5, about 34,000 patients are currently receiving care in U.S. hospitals across the country. This still marks one of the highest numbers of patients hospitalized with the virus since March.

On average, more than 5,200 virus-positive Americans are entering the hospital each day — the highest number of daily admissions since February. Hospital admissions in the Southwest and the South are up by more than 10%, respectively, in the past week.

The average number of daily COVID-19-related deaths remains just below 300 reported each day. Totals are still much lower than during prior COVID-19 surges.

However, thousands of Americans are still losing their lives every week. Over the last seven days, the U.S. has reported nearly 2,000 deaths.

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(NEW YORK) — A new report found a “statistically significant” excess of cancer cases among people of all ages living within a Long Island school district compared to similar areas of the state.

The report, from the New York State Department of Health, looked at cancer cases over 20 years within the Northport-East Northport School District in Suffolk County — about 45 miles from Manhattan.

Researchers say the investigation is still in its early stages and does not mean people living in these areas need to immediately get cancer screenings.

Looking at data from the New York State Cancer Registry, researchers conducted an analysis comparing the number of cancer cases found with the number of cases that would be expected to be found.

Within the entire district, the report identified 4,593 total cancer cases, a 3% excess than the 4,454 cases that would be expected. Specifically, the DOH found “significant excesses in numbers of cases of pancreatic cancer, malignant melanoma of the skin, uterine (corpus) cancer and prostate cancer.”

“Cancer clusters are certainly an area of intrigue because we want to be able to identify if there are certain hotspots for cancer,” Dr. Arif Kamal, chief patient officer of the American Cancer Society, told ABC News.

Kamal said the interesting aspect of this case is that “if you look at the particular cancers that are represented, there’s not a single factor that tied them all together,” indicating a “mixture of explanations.”

When looking specifically at the Northport Middle School District, researchers detected 2,655 total cases of cancer, a 7% excess than the 2,486 cases expected, with “significantly greater than expected numbers of cases of malignant melanoma and prostate cancer.” However, the report found that the East Northport Middle School area did not have ​a significantly different total number of cancer cases from the number expected.

The department said it initiated the investigation in 2019 after members of the community shared a concerning number of graduates in the Northport High School class of 2016 who had been diagnosed with leukemia. Officials found around five graduates were diagnosed with leukemia, which was “statistically unusual” and much higher than the two cases that would be expected.

The DOH said it does not believe the study should cause alarm and that the higher number of leukemia cases may be “due to chance.”

Kamal said the higher number of leukemia cases is “concerning, but it’s a little early to make conclusions about what it means.”

“Leukemia can be a canary in a coal mine because a lot of environmental exposures can lead to it, but it needs to be followed over time to really understand,” he said. “If after five to 10 years those rates increase, you really should be worried.”

The district has battled concerns about toxic chemicals on school grounds for years and, in September 2020, parents filed a class action lawsuit against the district citing negligence. In the lawsuit, they allege the district “knew or should have known about the presence” of the presence of “contaminants” on its campus including benzene, mold, chlordane, mercury, lead, carbon monoxide and petroleum products.

Tara Mackey, the lead plaintiff, told ABC News her daughter attended Northport Middle School from 2015 to 2018. The lawsuit claims that in 2017, the district notified parents about a chemical spill beneath classrooms in the school’s K-wing.

“My daughter was in seventh grade when they told us about the chemicals they found under the K-wing,” she said. “She was suffering from migraines. Some days it would be so bad she would come home, and she would vomit.”

Mackey said she took her daughter to the pediatrician to be tested, and when the pediatrician called her back, she was shocked by the blood test results.

“My seventh-grade daughter had carbon monoxide levels equal to a two-, three-pack-a-day smoker,” Mackey said.

Mackey’s daughter just graduated high school in North Carolina, and although she currently does not suffer from migraines, she did develop asthma while attending Northport Middle School.

When the district was contacted by ABC News, Syntax Communication Group — which represents the district — replied, “The Northport-East Northport School District does not comment on active litigation and will not be providing comment.”

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(NEW YORK) — Two weeks after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the South has become covered with abortion bans.

Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama and Texas — along with Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and South Dakota — all now have near-total bans on abortion in effect. The clinics that had been working there spent years navigating previous restrictions and fighting off state laws.

Now, said Amy Hagstrom Miller, founder and CEO of Whole Woman’s Health, which has facilities in Texas, staff are grappling with the idea that “there is no narrative that’s going to allow us to reopen. There is no lawsuit we get to try to win this time or some kind of fight that we can fight this time that will allow us to resume the care that we know our communities need.”

Instead, clinic leaders in these states are fully changing plans as they have stopped providing abortions. For some, this means staying open but altering the care provided. For others, this means packing up and leaving for good, with the intention of serving patients in the South by reopening in nearby states where abortion is still legal.

For all, there is worry for the patients who will not be able to access care they seek.

“I am very concerned about what the hospitals are going to see, when the hospital emergency rooms begin to receive women who have been desperate and take desperate measures,” Kathaleen Pittman, administrator for the New Hope Medical for Women in Louisiana, told ABC News.

Staying open, with new priorities

The West Alabama Women’s Center in Tuscaloosa halted abortion operations as soon as the Supreme Court decision was announced on June 24. The state swiftly moved to ban an abortion, with a law that makes it a Class A felony to perform an abortion, except to prevent a serious health risk to the pregnant person.

The center closed down on June 29. But at 8 a.m. on July 11, the center will be reopening, according to operations director Robin Marty, who called the two-week closure a “clean break” between the past and present.

Due to legal concerns, the clinic will no longer provide abortions but will continue to offer access to contraceptives and HIV testing, among other sexual health services, Marty said.

The clinic will also no longer provide information or resources to assist pregnant people traveling to obtain an abortion elsewhere. This, Marty said, is because Alabama officials, including the state’s attorney general, have said they will consider expanding the criminality of abortion to those who help — logistically or financially — someone obtain an abortion outside of the state.

Despite these changes, Marty said, the clinic will assist those experiencing bleeding or possible miscarriages, no questions asked.

“There is a severe lack of health care in Alabama, there’s not a lot of providers or hospitals, there’s not a lot of access to contraceptives or to OB care in general,” Marty said. “There are hospitals and doctors that just don’t entirely know what care to do for patients who are bleeding.”

The Hope Medical Group for Women in Shreveport, Louisiana, too will stay open, Pittman said — for options counseling and to provide ultrasounds.

“We’re going to continue to keep our doors open. We’ll do everything we can within the law to help the women and just hope,” she said.

The Louisiana Supreme Court allowed a ban on nearly all abortion to go into effect Friday after a series of court challenges by local abortion providers was moved to another jurisdiction. There is ongoing legal action on this front.

New Mexico becomes an outlet for the corridor

Meanwhile, at least two clinics in the block of southern states with bans are closing down and relocating to New Mexico. Along the southern border, abortion is largely illegal from Texas to Alabama.

Florida and Georgia do not have full bans, but do have gestational limits either in effect (Florida, 15 weeks) or tied up in courts (Georgia, six weeks). With Republican governors, abortion rights advocates do not believe these states are safe for abortion access.

But out to the West on the southern border, abortion rights advocates and providers see hope in New Mexico, where Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, has vowed, “As long as I am governor, abortion will continue to be legal, safe, and accessible.”

Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Mississippi’s only abortion clinic, which was at the center of the Supreme Court case that led to the overturning of Roe, is taking that as an invitation. The clinic will be closing down in Mississippi, where a so-called “trigger law” went into effect on Thursday, and reopening in New Mexico, Diane Derzis, owner of the clinic, told ABC News, where they have been “accepted and welcomed.”

Derzis said the New Mexico facility will be a full-service abortion clinic.

“This is today in this country. Mississippi is the past, and the future is moving on to where women have an option,” she said.

Likewise, Whole Woman’s Health is closing operations in Texas, where the organization got its start almost 20 years ago, and planning to open a clinic in New Mexico, Hagstrom Miller told ABC News, calling the state “a beacon of hope.”

Just six years ago, Whole Woman’s Health won a Supreme Court case striking down abortion restrictions in Texas. The group has continued operating in the state in the face of an unprecedented ban that was allowed to go into effect almost a year before Roe was overturned. And like Jackson Women’s Health, Whole Woman’s Health has tried fighting the new ban in its state.

But in early July, the state Supreme Court dealt their case a blow. Legal proceedings are ongoing, but Hagstrom Miller said the state Supreme Court’s decision “sped up our timeline of trying to go to New Mexico.”

The organization, which also has clinics open in Maryland, Minnesota, Indiana and Virginia, where abortion is still legal, already provides abortions in New Mexico via telemedicine. They are now fundraising to open an in-person clinic, likely near the border with Texas, Hagstrom Miller said, to be more accessible to Texans.

“You can’t say for one second Whole Woman’s Health didn’t do everything we could to preserve access to safe abortion in Texas,” she said. “So, there’s some bitterness on our team, because people in Texas deserve the kind of care that we provide, and our staff deserve to continue to do this work that they love and that they’re trained to do. There’s grief and frustration.”

Concern for what happens to patients who can’t cross borders

These clinic leaders across Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama are doing what they can to reorganize to continue to work with patients in their states. Independent providers and those associated with Planned Parenthood have been in touch with each other to coordinate the new infrastructure for abortion care in a fractured United States, according to Hagstrom Miller.

Even so, Marty said, between bans and closures, “It’s a tidal wave that is working its way further and further up the nation. There’s never going to be enough clinics this way.”

Moreover, the clinic leaders each told ABC News they worry for the patients who will get left behind.

“There are a lot of people who did not vote for these laws or these politicians,” Marty said. “People here are affected and can’t leave. We can’t forget about them.”

“Not everybody can travel,” Hagstrom Miller said. “This sort of heroic narrative, the arc of ‘we’re setting up somewhere else, we’re going to take care of people,’ right? A lot of people are going to fall through those cracks.”

This is especially concerning, the leaders said, for communities already facing barriers to health care, including people of color, people with lower income, the young and those in abusive relationships.

“It’s sad to know that there are women getting left behind,” Derzis said. “Hopefully, it’s time that women rise up in this country and demand their rights.”

ABC News’ Briana Stewart and Ely Brown contributed to this report.

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Wesley Lapointe / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)(NEW YORK) — Since the COVID-19 vaccine was authorized for children under age 5 last month, states have been able to pre-order doses directly from the federal government.

Roughly 300,000 children between ages six months and four years have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine as of Thursday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

That is equivalent to about 1.5% of the roughly 19.5 million children in the United States who recently became eligible.

Despite the low number, states are continuing to order vaccines as they expect infection numbers to increase and confidence to build over time.

ABC News reached out to all 50 state health departments between June 21 and July 7 asking how many doses had been ordered for children under age 5 and received data from 41 of them.

Those states have ordered at least 3.09 million vaccine doses for the youngest age group to be distributed to providers, hospitals, vaccination centers and more, according to the results.

This number does not include retail pharmacies in the states who have pre-ordered doses through the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program.

“Having millions of doses out of the gate is incredibly helpful,” said Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor. “It’s a good start. My gut feeling is that there’s going to be an initial rush, like when doses became available for other age groups, and then a little bit more of stable access.”

As of June 21, California — the state with the largest population — has ordered more than 400,000 doses of the vaccine, the state’s Department of Public Health told ABC News.

Of those doses, more than 221,000 doses are of the two-dose Moderna vaccine and 176,00 are of the three-dose Pfizer vaccine, the California DPH said.

The doses “can be administered at the more than 8,500 vaccine sites throughout the state, with additional doses becoming available in subsequent weeks,” the DPH said in a statement.

Meanwhile the state with the smallest population, Wyoming, has ordered the fewest doses at 3,700 as of June 30, state health officials told ABC News.

The state’s health department there said 2,000 doses were of the Pfizer vaccine and 1,700 were of Moderna’s vaccine.

Brownstein said it’s incredibly important for young children to get vaccinated because they are also susceptible to severe effects of COVID-19.

“There’s always been this view that, for some reason, adults are the hardest hit with COVID-19,” he said. “And while that may be true proportionally, children also suffer severe consequences, sometimes deaths, even long COVID.”

He added, “Giving our kids that baseline protection through vaccines is incredibly important … especially as we head into the fall.”

Florida is the only state in the U.S. that didn’t preorder any COVID-19 vaccines for young children, federal officials told ABC News last month.

“The Florida Department of Health has made it clear to the federal government that states do not need to be involved in the convoluted vaccine distribution process, especially when the federal government has a track record of developing inconsistent and unsustainable COVID-19 policies,” a spokesperson for the department told ABC News in a statement.

Brownstein said he fears this will lead to disadvantaged groups that have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19 also having disproportionate access to vaccines.

“When states are administering vaccines, they can optimize vaccination sites, making sure they’re available to lower income families, minority families,” he said. “In the absence of that, higher income families will always be able to find time off to get off work and find vaccines for their kids. Ultimately what will happen is a lack of vaccine equity.”

ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos contributed to this report.

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(HOUSTON) — A Houston woman says the secret to her success in losing over 200 pounds was simply walking.

Shenisha Armealine, 27, said she began walking in 2017, while at her heaviest weight of over 400 pounds.

At the time, Armealine said she was not only at her heaviest weight, she had also just survived Hurricane Harvey, which swept through Houston in August 2017, leaving a trail of devastation in its path.

“I lost everything I owned,” Armealine told “Good Morning America.” “My mental health was not really well, and I just I started walking.”

Armealine said she started small by committing to walking 15 minutes every day.

Slowly, Armealine said her daily commitment developed into a habit and then into a lifestyle.

She added jogging into her exercise routine and started to eat better too.

With those incremental changes — in addition to therapy, which she credits with helping her learn new coping skills — Armealine said she lost 218 pounds over five years.

“My life has a new perspective,” she said. “This is not just weight loss or weight gain. This is motivation.”

Armealine, now a college sophomore, shares her weight loss journey on Instagram and TikTok, where she inspires others.

“Once you realize who you are and you can love yourself, once you can believe in yourself and love who God created you to be the, the sky’s like literally the limit,” she said. “There is nothing you can’t do.”

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(NEW YORK) — Monkeypox cases around the world have increased 77% in seven days, the World Health Organization said Thursday.

There have been 6,027 laboratory-confirmed cases of monkeypox in 59 countries as of Monday, up 2,614 cases from June 27, the last time the WHO issued its report.

Three deaths have been reported in Africa, where monkeypox is considered an endemic. There have been no deaths from the virus in the U.S and in other parts of the world.

There are 4,920 confirmed cases in Europe, the region with the most cases.

People who identify as gay, bisexual or men who sleep with men make up most of the cases, according to the WHO’s report.

Health experts have warned that despite those groups making up the majority of cases, anyone can test positive for the virus.

Brian Thomas, a 32-year-old Baltimore man who recently tested positive for monkeypox, opened up about his experience with the virus to ABC News, saying he pushes back against people thinking it’s a gay disease.

“Even though this community is the one that’s most affected now, it’s not going to stay like that forever if the numbers increase,” Thomas said.

The incubation period from the time a person is exposed to when symptoms first appear can be anywhere from five to 21 days, according to the WHO.

The disease begins with a fever, headache, fatigue, chills and muscle aches. Monkeypox also causes swollen lymph nodes.

The Department of Health and Human Services said it’s sending nearly 300,000 doses of the JYNNEOS vaccine for prevention of the disease for people who have been exposed.

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(NEW YORK) — By the end of Thursday, roughly 300,000 children under the age of 5 years old will have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, a senior Biden administration official told ABC News.

The 300,000 shots in arms so far for kids under 5 is about 1.5% of the roughly 19.5 million U.S. children 4 years old and younger.

It’s a modest start to vaccinating this youngest yet age group — a drip-drip the White House says they are not surprised by.

“That number in and of itself is very much in line with our expectation, and we’re eager to continue working closely with partners to build on this start,” the senior administration official said.

This latest data also comes on the heels of a holiday weekend, with lots of families traveling and not thinking about a trip to the pediatrician while on vacation. Moreover, data takes time to flow in, and there could be an increase in the weeks ahead, especially ahead of the school year.

“Even before these vaccines officially became available, this was going to be a different rollout, it was going to take more time,” the senior administration official said, citing that parents in this younger age range “overwhelmingly prefer to get their kids vaccinated at a place that they know, with health care providers they know, in familiar settings,” and many may opt to get their kids the shots during a regular or annual wellness visit.

The White House is counting on those moments and opportunities for parents to speak with their child’s doctor and get answers to whatever outstanding questions they may have.

Even before COVID vaccines were authorized for children under 5, polling presaged the apprehension we’re seeing play out in the gradual immunization rate now.

A Kaiser Family Foundation poll from early May — before the vaccines were authorized, recommended and available — found that less than a fifth of parents with children under the age 5 — 18% — reported they were eager to get their child vaccinated right away.

More than a third of parents — 38% — said they planned to wait to see how the vaccine works for others, while 27% of parents reported that they will “definitely not” get their child vaccinated, and 11% said that they will only do so if they are required. More than half of parents said that they feel they do not have enough information about the vaccines’ safety and efficacy for children under age 5.

With vaccination rates in kids under five starting out slow, the White House expects moments of acceleration spurred on by the academic calendar — or potential variant surges — including around back-to-school time and holidays.

This week, new infections among children are back on the rise for the first time in nearly two months — and surges can be “part of the conversation starter for a lot of parents about these vaccines,” the administration official said.

The senior administration noted there will always be holdouts no one can force to take the shot. However, the official said, “we have a really robust kind of engagement strategy” to “work through people’s concerns.”

“I think that it’s absolutely expected that once the school year starts, there will be unvaccinated children and vaccinated children,” the official said. “And I think that that’s going to be part of the dynamic that we’re working through.”

Even if young kids get their first shot this week, some may not be fully immunized by the academic year’s start, when vaccinated and unvaccinated children may commingle in the classroom.

The administration official noted that while increasing cases may be a “motivator,” it will vary by demographic.

The White House will continue to lean on “trusted messengers” within specific communities they see as having a great impact, like family doctors and pediatricians.

The White House is working with the Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind Sesame Street, to get the word out — including a PSA from Elmo — and have launched a partnership with the National Diaper Bank Network to distribute educational materials.

The question of vaccine mandates for school for this young age group will remain up to states.

ABC News’ Eric Strauss, Arielle Mitropoulos and Sony Salzman contributed to this report.

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(LANSING, Mich.) — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Thursday called on the Biden administration to “pull out all the stops” to ensure Americans are legally allowed to cross the U.S.-Canada border with abortion pills.

Whitmer has been fighting a 1931 anti-abortion law in Michigan that was dormant under Roe v. Wade. But with Roe now overturned by the Supreme Court, the Democratic government said she wanted to see Biden’s cabinet to jump into the fight to protect access to abortion.

In a letter to the departments of Health and Human Services and Homeland Security, Whitmer said the administration must make clear that Americans won’t be punished for seeking reproductive care in Canada or for bringing back medication abortion.

Medication abortion, which typically involves two pills and is available globally, is approved by U.S. regulators but only under a prescription from a certified clinician and obtained by certain manufacturers. States whose legislators oppose abortion have limited or banned access to the drugs entirely.

“In this perilous, precarious moment for women’s fundamental rights, we need to be creative and take bold action. We must lead,” Whitmer wrote in a statement.

In April, Whitmer sued over the 1931 Michigan law, which would ban abortion in the state. A similar lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood of Michigan led to an injunction against the law, which the Republican Legislature is now fighting, according to the Detroit Free Press. Whitmer last week asked the state Supreme Court to immediately consider her lawsuit.

Meanwhile in Michigan, voters have circulated a petition to get a measure on the ballot in November to vote on protecting abortion rights in the state’s constitution.

In late June, the Supreme Court ruled to overturn Roe v. Wade, which protected the right to abortion nationally. Now, the right to abortion is decided on a state-by-state level, and those in support of the right are scrambling to ramp up protections.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other officials have indicated Americans can access abortion care in Canada.

ABC News’ Alexandra Svokos contributed to this report.

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