In the face of the worst global pandemic since COVID-19 reared its ugly head two and a half years ago, President Joe Biden – who has now twice lost the fight against COVID-19 – has named a new czar to lead the nation’s response against the primarily skin-to-skin transmission virus known as monkeypox.

The disease, which has affected primarily gay men who participate in orgies, was recently declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organization, despite the fact that its own expert panel recommended against such a proclamation.

The U.N. agency declined last month to declare a global emergency in response to monkeypox. But infections have increased substantially over the past several weeks, pushing WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to issue the highest alert.

Joe Biden’s new czar, a title which sounds like an end-run around the democracy Democrats have long claimed they want to save, is Robert Fenton. Fenton is the regional administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

“We simply wouldn’t be where we are today in our nation’s fight against COVID-19 without the expertise and leadership of Bob Fenton,” Jeff Zients, the former White House coronavirus response coordinator, said as part of Fenton’s recognition. “He became an indispensable leader in the whole-of-government response — contributing to a historic, nationwide vaccination program.”

The White House also plans to name Demetre Daskalakis, a senior official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as a top deputy for Fenton. Daskalakis, a physician who previously served as a New York City health official, had helped lead the CDC’s HIV/AIDS work and has been involved in the federal response to monkeypox. Once profiled by the Atlantic magazine as “New York City’s ‘Gay Health Warrior’,” Daskalakis has also spent weeks publicly warning about the risks of monkeypox to men who have sex with men, as the virus predominantly spreads in that community.

“Fenton and Daskalakis will lead the Administration’s strategy and operations to combat the current monkeypox outbreak, including equitably increasing the availability of tests, vaccinations and treatments,” according to the planned announcement, obtained by The Washington Post.

The monkeypox virus outbreaks we’ve seen appear to have originated after symptomatic men attended orgies and picked up the virus. Since then, it has spread to thousands worldwide, and according to the WHO in mid-July, had killed five. India recently confirmed one death there.

It is high time the Biden administration got with the program in responding to this crisis. Had he waited longer, he could have been called out on hypocrisy after his 2020 campaign criticized Donald Trump for not reacting fast enough to COVID-19.