Smallpox Vaccine Guidelines Released

The Centers for Disease Control released to state health departments, guidelines for vaccinating the entire U.S. population, should a bioterror attack happen.

There hasn't been any smallpox in this country for years. The last routine vaccination happened in the early seventies.

Now experts fear that terrorist groups may have the virus and could release it on the American people.

"A single smallpox case would be considered a terrorist attack and we would really vaccinate everyone," said Dr. Michael Richardson, Senior Deputy Director of the D.C. Department of Health.

The Centers for Disease Control now recommends that mass vaccinations should take place immediately if smallpox is ever discovered here - a much more aggressive approach than the government has advocated in the past.

The smallpox vaccine offers protection even after someone has been exposed, as long as they get the shot within a few days.

Health officials are cautious about widespread vaccinations before there's any outbreak, though, because the vaccine can cause serious side effects, even death for some people.

"There are certain people that cannot take the vaccination because they are at very high risk of getting diffuse cowpox. Smallpox vaccination also can be passed on by contact by the inoculation on the skin to somebody else," said Dr. Richardson.

The plan does not address a more controversial issue: who should be vaccinated before an attack happens? That decision is expected next month.

For now, local health officials will focus on information. "Public education is for people to understand the benefit of the vaccination and the risk of that vaccination and this is something we are moving very quickly to have information on," said Dr. Richardson.

Scientists are now working on a different version of the smallpox vaccine that looks at the virus and the patients' hemoglobin makeup. That would give people most in danger, a chance to be inoculated.