Staff Writer
 

ONEONTA - Few area health workers were vaccinated for small pox, area hospital officials said Thursday.
 

State health officials said recently hundreds of unused doses of the vaccine may be dumped.
 

Two employees of A.O. Fox Memorial Hospital in Oneonta were vaccinated, according to spokeswoman Maggie Barnes.
 

Between 90 and 100 Fox employees were asked to volunteer for the vaccinations, hospital officials said in December.
 

"We've had several people indicate an interest in doing so, but when the state program slowed, we held up as well," Barnes said Thursday.
 

Barnes attributed the slowdown to reports of heart problems associated with the vaccine.
 

At The Hospital in Sidney, 15 health-care workers signed up within a week after a general request for volunteers was circulated, infection control coordinator Gail Ashley said in December.
 

But none has been vaccinated, Ashley said Thursday. She said The Hospital has opted out of receiving the vaccine in a pre-event situation for several reasons, including the associated risks.
 

"We are a very small facility," she said, "and there was some concern as to adverse reactions and the ability to make sure that we could adequately staff our facility."
 

Bassett Healthcare employees were not vaccinated, with the possible exception of staff members in the reserves who were mobilized, said spokeswoman Leslie Raabe.
 

Of the 16,000 statewide that officials initially estimated would get the shots in the first phase of the federal program, less than 5 percent — 747 — received them. President Bush announced the voluntary program in December as a way to protect Americans in the event of a bioterror attack.
 

Some area hospitals instead have set procedures to vaccinate staff if a suspect case turns up, they said.
 

Fox has a response team of 20 to 30 people who would be vaccinated should the hospital get a smallpox case, said Ruth Sickler, infection control director.
 

"The minute you get a case that you suspect is smallpox, you call the state Health Department," Sickler said. "Then the bells start going off, and they're here within hours."
 

While at The Hospital, Ashley said she and an employee-health nurse have been trained as smallpox clinic managers.
 

"In the event something does happen, you have four days to have people vaccinated," she said.
 

In January, the state ordered 800 more doses in 80 vials from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which provided the vaccine to states free of charge, the Times Union of Albany reported Tuesday. About two-thirds of the doses remain unopened and are still usable, said Kristine Smith, state Health Department spokeswoman.
 

But a few doses are left in 26 vials of vaccine powder that were opened and reconstituted in a solution, which expires over 90 days, she said. Those will have to be discarded.
 

The state will use the remaining vials as it prepares for the program's second phase, making the shots available to first responders, including police, firefighters and emergency medical teams.
 

The contagious and sometimes deadly smallpox disease has been virtually eradicated. The last case of smallpox in the United States was in 1949, according to a CDC fact sheet. But there are fears the disease could be used as a terror weapon.
 

The Associated Press contributed to this article.
 

Melissa Scram can be reached at mscram@thedailystar.com or (607) 441-7213.