Immunization Newsbriefs (c) Copyright Information Inc., Bethesda, MD. Brought to you by the National Network for Immunization Information (NNii). Visit NNii's new website at http://www.immunizationinfo.org.

———————————————————————

July 07, 2003

U.S. IMMUNIZATION NEWS

“Thousands of Smallpox Shots Unused”

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (www.post-gazette.com) (07/04/03) P. A1; Snowbeck,

Christopher 

Several large states report that they may end up throwing away more doses

of the smallpox vaccine than they have used, a development that underscores

the lack of interest among healthcare workers and first responders to

obtain the vaccine due to its risks of potentially deadly side effects. 

Health officials in Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Illinois, and California

say that of the combined 53,800 doses of smallpox vaccine they have

received, just 15,300 were prepared for use--and only 5,041 people agreed

to be vaccinated against the disease.  The unused doses are not a safety

hazard, nor did they cost very much, but their potency will expire

relatively soon, leading to the states’ plans to throw them away.  The

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not consider the program a

failure, noting that some emergency workers have been inoculated and that

doses of the vaccine are now in much more accessible areas for states to

deal with an outbreak of smallpox if one occurs.