Director's Message September 9, 2022

The .gov means it’s official.Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you're on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you're connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and sent securely.

This weekend marks the anniversary of the terrorist attacks that took place on September 11, 2001. The damage that was done to lives, property, and the American spirit that day was

significant.

However, I have also always remembered the strength with which our nation came together in the weeks and months that followed. I remember the first responders and the Coast Guard who rushed

in to help. I remember the way people volunteered to help their neighbors. I remember the way we mourned together as one people, and how we showed our best and most meaningful qualities as

we recovered. I hope everyone will take a moment to reflect this weekend on this event in history, and about what it means to be an American.

There are currently no antiviral therapies approved by the FDA for the treatment of monkeypox; however, antiviral therapies developed against smallpox are available from the CDC as

investigational drugs. VA has signed a reliance agreement with CDC’s human subject protection committee to access these drugs when indicated to treat patients with severe monkeypox.

The only vaccine currently licensed against monkeypox, called JYNNEOS™, had been in very short supply and is currently only available from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

VA received an initial allocation of 13,000 vials (up to 65,000 doses) of JYNNEOS™ monkeypox vaccine from Department of Health and Human Services in August. VA will continue to receive

additional allocation of vials of JYNNEOS™ to reduce the spread of monkeypox as more product is available within the supply chain. This relatively scarce resource will be distributed based

on the proportion of Veterans at risk served by the facility and the activity of the epidemic in the immediate community.

A large proportion of the veteran population has been immunized against smallpox (which provides some cross-protection against monkeypox). In addition to veterans born prior to 1972, when

routine smallpox vaccination efforts ceased, about 500,000 veterans were immunized since the early 2000s as part of the military’s preparedness against biological warfare agents. It is

unclear how much protection is conferred by smallpox immunization, and eligible veterans will receive any required vaccine regardless of vaccines they may have received during their military

service.

Whenever a bee colony gets too large that it cannot accommodate additional honeybees, the honeybees swarm and gather at a location with the goal of finding a new home. A number of the

honeybees then begin scouting for a new location for the colony. When they return, they report their findings about each site; but they communicate by doing a “waggle dance”. The bees

representing various potential sites will have their own form of a debate and will even cast votes to decide on the next best move. Regardless of how convinced an individual bee thinks their

site was, the bees collaborate to vote on a final group decision. Bees reveal that part of what it means to think collaboratively is to value the voice of everyone on a team.

Bees all have different roles, but they unite for the sake of the overall mission. In fact, bees can be so united that they have been referred to as a “superorganism”. That is, they work so

collaboratively, thousands of individual bees function as a unified whole. The key to their effectiveness is their willingness to cooperate for the success of the overall colony, not merely

their silo.

The honey produced by bees is truly a natural marvel. In its raw, natural state, honey is one of the few food items that does not spoil when preserved under the right conditions. In fact,

archeologists found pots of honey in Egyptians tombs that were two – three thousand years old, yet the honey was still preserved! In our service to Veterans, it is good to be reminded that

at the end of the day, what truly lasts forever is the impact that we make upon people. Like honey, it might be the only thing we produce that never expires.