Connecticut yesterday suspended its smallpox vaccination program until April
14 for further investigation of recent cardiac problems, including the deaths
of two people who recently had been vaccinated.
"We've postponed the clinics that have been scheduled," said William Gerrish,
a spokesman for the state Department of Public Health. "We wanted to receive
revised guidelines from the (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention),
which we did, and we're now reviewing that and integrating it into our
program."
Connecticut is among at least a dozen states to postpone the program since the
CDC reported that people with heart problems may be at higher risk for side
effects from the vaccine.
Of the approximately 26,000 health-care workers who have been vaccinated
nationwide, seven developed cardiac problems and two died of heart attacks,
according to the CDC. The shots may cause inflammation of the heart or
membrane covering the heart, heart pain and heart attacks among people with
heart problems, the agency said.
Statewide, 560 health workers have been vaccinated with no serious side
effects reported, Gerrish said.
Caroline Calderone Baisley, director of the Greenwich Department of Health,
said she approves of the suspension.
"Whenever there (are) questions, we have to depend on (the state health
department) to make the judgment," she said.
Under the new guidelines, Calderone Baisley, one of six health workers in town
to be vaccinated, may not have been eligible for the shot because of a family
history of heart problems. But Calderone Baisley said she was glad she got
vaccinated and would have volunteered for the shot even under the new
guidelines.
"I've been pretty healthy; I've been examined," she said. "I don't know, I
don't think I would freak out about that."
Calderone Baisley is among the five employees from the local health department
who have been vaccinated. Dr. Peter Arturi, vice chairman of the Board of
Health, also got the shot. Three more employees were scheduled to be
vaccinated in Farmington today, but they will have to wait until after April
14, Calderone Baisley said.
Vaccinations of 20 Green-wich Hospital workers scheduled for Wednesday also
will have to wait, said George Pawlush, a hospital spokesman.
The voluntary vaccination program is part of a national effort to prepare the
country for a potential terrorist attack using smallpox. The disease was
eradicated globally in 1977, but bioterrorism threats have prompted the
government to build a stockpile of the vaccine. The highly contagious virus
kills about a third of its victims.
Under the vaccination program begun in Connecticut this year, military
personnel were the first vaccinated, followed by people who would be most
likely to come in contact with smallpox, such as doctors, nurses and public
health officials. Other first responders, such as firefighters, are next in
line to be vaccinated. The public is not expected to be offered the vaccine
until next year, unless a smallpox case is confirmed.
Vaccination clinics will be rescheduled after April 14, when guidelines about
who should receive the vaccine should be updated, Gerrish said. Workers at 24
of the state's 32 hospitals have been vaccinated to date, he said.
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