Vaccination News Home Page                                            subscribe Vaccination NewsLetter

http://www.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/01/30/la.smallpox.vaccine.ap/index.html

L.A. County begins smallpox vaccinations

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

Story Tools

VIDEO CNN's Sanjay Gupta looks at possible scenarios if New York City were hit with a smallpox attack (January 30) PLAY VIDEO RELATED Interactive: The vaccine -- what are the risks?    • Connecticut health workers get smallpox shots  • Behind the Scenes: Medical field split on smallpox vaccine  • Interactive: What is smallpox and how does it spread?  • Smallpox FAQs

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.

Vaccination News Home Page

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.