L.A. County begins smallpox vaccinations

Thursday, January 30, 2003 Posted: 8:59 PM EST (0159 GMT)

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LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- The second round of smallpox vaccinations began Wednesday in the U.S. government's plan to inoculate a half-million of the nation's front-line health care workers in case of a bioterrorist attack.

With 15 pricks of a tiny forked needle to her arm, public health nurse Rita Bagby was the first of 27 health-care workers to usher in vaccinations on the West Coast.

Connecticut was the first state to take part in the voluntary program as four doctors got shots Friday. Seven additional jurisdictions across the nation were expected to begin vaccinations this week.

Los Angeles County ordered 9,200 doses but expects to vaccinate only about 60 of its nurses, doctors and epidemiologists during the program's first, weeklong phase.

"We need to have a cadre of people -- a small group -- that can go out and check on a probable case without worry for their own health," said Dr. Raymond Aller, the county's director of bioterrorism preparedness and response.

The program so far has been slow to win volunteers. The vaccine is made from a live virus that, in rare cases, can cause adverse reactions or spread to unvaccinated people.

Experts say as many as 40 people out of every million vaccinated for the first time will face life-threatening reactions and one or two will die.

Bagby said her concerns were minimal. "I felt this was just another way a public health nurse could contribute," she said.

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