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Salt Lake City Deseret News (www.desnews.com)
(01/25/03) P. A9
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) recommended on Friday that hepatitis vaccinations be given in prisons,
noting that doing so could save lives. "Medical prevention measures can be
delivered effectively in prisons," explained the CDC's Dr. Cindy Weinbaum. An
estimated 1.4 millions have chronic hepatitis B infection, while as many as
200,000 are infected with hepatitis A each year. The CDC also noted that over 4
million Americans have chronic hepatitis C infections, and nearly 40 percent of
those patients were in prison at one time. [Although there is no licensed
vaccine available for hepatitis C, it is important to protect patients with
hepatitis C from further hepatic (liver) damage caused by hepatitis A or B.]
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MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION
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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.
"A foolish faith in authority is the worst enemy of truth."
-- Albert Einstein, letter to a friend, 1901
"I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves, and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education."
-- Thomas Jefferson, letter to William C. Jarvis, September 28, 1820
"What's the point of vaccination if it doesn't protect you from the unvaccinated?"
-- Sandy Gottstein
"Who gets to decide what the greater good is and how many will be sacrificed to it?"