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http://www.gazetteextra.com/smallpox040103.asp

Nurses want Doyle to stop smallpox shots

(Published Tuesday, April 1, 2003 09:01:09 AM CST)

By Todd Richmond/Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. -- A state nurses union asked Gov. Jim Doyle Monday to stop smallpox vaccinations in Wisconsin after three people nationwide died of heart attacks that might be linked to the vaccine.

The Wisconsin Federation of Nurses and Health Care Professionals asked Doyle to suspend the inoculations until federal officials figure out whether the vaccine causes heart problems.

"There's no way to know which immunization might be the one that is the cause of someone's heart attack," said Candice Owley, WFNHP president. "There's a lot of unanswered questions."

State Department of Health and Family Services spokesman Jim Malone said the agency has no plans to stop the inoculations.

Agency officials administering the vaccine started asking potential vaccinees Friday for detailed heart histories and screening out ones with problems, Malone said. The agency also began taking new federal precautions Monday, including screening out people with diabetes, high cholesterol or hypertension, he said.

"At this time we feel confident in our program based on our precautions," Malone said.

Smallpox, one of the deadliest diseases known to humanity, was eradicated in 1980. Routine vaccinations in the United States ended in 1972.

The Bush administration wants to inoculate as many as 10 million medical personnel nationally, including 200,000 in Wisconsin, to serve as first-response teams in case of a biological terrorist attack.

The first phase of the plan calls for inoculating about 450,000 medical workers, including about 4,700 in Wisconsin, who volunteer to take the vaccine.

Three people, including a Maryland nurse, have died of heart attacks after being inoculated. Seven states - Arizona, California, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, New York and Vermont - have suspended their inoculation programs during the ensuing federal investigation.

The vaccine can carry lethal side effects ranging from blindness to infections. Experts estimate 15 out of every 1 million people vaccinated for the first time will face life-threatening complications and one or two will die.

But heart attacks have never been associated with the vaccine.

Herb Bostrom, director of the state Bureau of Communicable Diseases, said heart problems haven't been seen before because the vaccine was primarily given to children, not adults, before smallpox was eradicated.

About 600 people have been inoculated in Wisconsin since vaccinations began in March.

Malone and Bostrom stressed Wisconsin's inoculation program is voluntary, but Owley said the vaccinations aren't worth the risk.

There's been no known case of the disease and terrorists are just as likely to launch a biological attack using some other infectious disease such as anthrax, she said.

"Why should we put anyone's life at risk for a threat that doesn't seem to be a legitimate threat?" she said.

Pat Skonieczny, a nurse and infection control coordinator at St. Francis Hospital in Milwaukee, is scheduled to be inoculated Friday.

She said she's been inoculated twice before and doesn't have any risk factors such as obesity or heart disease associated with the three deaths.

But she still questions the need for inoculations.

"I'm not sure the whole program is necessary," she said. "If I end up in a coma, you have a real story."

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ALL INFORMATION, DATA, AND MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR LEGAL ADVICE.  THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.