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July 18, 2003

U.S. IMMUNIZATION NEWS

“Focus on Smallpox Threat Revived”

Washington Post (www.washingtonpost.com) (07/17/03) P. A3; Connolly, Ceci

Warning that the United States remains unprepared to respond to a smallpox biological attack due to a lack of inoculated healthcare personnel, national security experts are increasing their attention on President Bush’s smallpox vaccination program.  The program, targeting up to 500,000 healthcare personnel throughout the country, fell short of its goal due to fears about the smallpox vaccine’s side effects as well as liability issues.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is distributing $100 million to states in order to reaffirm the importance of the smallpox vaccine program.  Critics of the plan believe the opportunity to vaccinate thousands of people against smallpox was missed, because now people remain concerned about side effects and are content due to reports claiming Saddam Hussein lacked biological weapons.  The CDC estimates that 1.2 million immunized healthcare workers are needed to run enough emergency clinics to vaccinate the U.S. population within 10 days of a smallpox attack.