Officials say there are more than 3,000 cases of monkeypox in New York City, putting the state at the second highest for number of cases in the whole country.

The White House monkeypox response team says numbers across the country have been declining and vaccinations are going up.

White House health officials, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, say they were cautiously optimistic about this progress, but they emphasized the need to ramp up vaccination efforts that are equitable. That’s because even as monekypox cases around the country go down, the racial divide in these cases is growing.

The monkeypox response team shared that new cases in U.S. are down 15% since early August and that more people are aware and informed about the virus.

New York City has had 3,374 cases since the start of the new outbreak, but cases do appear to be declining in recent weeks. Data shows that more than 90,000 doses have been given out in the five boroughs.

The White House team says that current vaccination efforts are disproportionate to the communities most affected.

For example, their data shows that Black men are making up 38% of cases but only 12% of vaccinations.

Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, White House National Monkeypox Response Deputy Coordinator adds, "We’re not entering the harder phase of the vaccination campaign… ease access for second doses.”

They say they are continuing to work at a grassroots level with organizations in communities of color to get more shots in arms.