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January 29, 2003

U.S. IMMUNIZATION NEWS

"Smallpox Fears Rise, Poll Suggests"

USA Today (www.usatoday.com) (01/28/03) P. 10D; Manning, Anita

According to a recent national telephone survey of 1,000 adults in the United States, 63 percent of the respondents said they are worried about a smallpox attack and the number of those not worried dropped from 21 percent to 9 percent in a year's time.  The survey was conducted last week, as President Bush's smallpox preparedness program--which called for the vaccination of a half million health care workers and 10 million police and rescue workers--ramped up.  Nursing groups have posed some objections and at least 80 hospitals have refused to participate in the program, because of the potential side effects and risks to patients with compromised immune systems.  Of the adults surveyed, 53 percent said they would be vaccinated against smallpox despite the risks, while 44 percent said they would not be vaccinated.  Anxiety on the rise, says immunologist David Neumann, director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, being driven by a continual blitz of proclamations from Washington regarding the need for a solid disease response program.

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