Minorities in the U.S. are being treated unfairly, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Thursday.

He made the remarks in response to a question about the monkeypox outbreak's disproportionate effect on people of color in the U.S.

Citing a report from the Kaiser Family Foundation, Wang said the racial disparities in the U.S. monkeypox epidemic are significant, with minorities facing more serious public health threats.

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that Latinos and African Americans, who make up only about 30 percent of the total U.S. population, account for more than 60 percent of the confirmed cases of monkeypox in the U.S., yet only 10 percent of monkeypox vaccines are distributed to African American cases, who account for about 33 percent of the confirmed cases nationwide, he said.

Wang said relevant studies in the U.S. have also shown that Latinos and African Americans are about three times more likely than whites to be infected by COVID-19 and about twice as likely to die after infection as Caucasians.

The chronic problem of systematic racial discrimination against minorities in the U.S. has become more prominent amid public health emergencies, Wang said, adding that the U.S. should take practical action for the equality and human rights of minority groups in the country.