Return to Vaccination News Home Page
Subscribe to the Vaccination NewsLetter
View past & current Scandals (columns by Sandy Mintz)
Search This Site using keywords
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_12839.html
Reuters Health
Tuesday, May 27, 2003
WASHINGTON (Reuters Health) - More needs to be known about the safety of smallpox vaccination before states begin offering the shot to fire and police personnel, a federal advisory panel said in a report issued Tuesday.
In a multi-page letter to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Institute of Medicine's Committee on Smallpox Vaccine Implementation said that in addition to concerns about side effects, it thinks the government needs to design educational materials targeted to the new group of potential vaccinees, and should better define what it takes for each locality to be declared "prepared" for a smallpox attack.
Overall, despite not coming close to reaching the oft-cited target of 500,000 vaccinees, the program has gone well, said committee chairman Brian Strom, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
"They vaccinated 40,000 people with a toxic vaccine that has not been used for decades, and they did it amazingly safely, very quickly," he told Reuters Health.
As of early May, 36,217 mostly health care workers had been immunized, and about 400,000 military personnel.
But Strom noted that the committee is concerned that so far, information about side effects has been collected for only about a third of the civilians. Some of the rare, serious problems, such as heart inflammation, were expected. However, it is still not clear whether some reported heart attacks might be linked to the vaccine, and whether other side effects might show up.
"It is certainly very possible that there are other side effects that we don't know about yet," said Strom.
The CDC is collecting and analyzing side effect data. That analysis should be done before states begin vaccinating volunteer fire, police and other so-called first responder personnel, said the IOM panel. Most states are expected to start the next round of vaccination in late August or early September.
The IOM panel also suggested that educational materials, currently geared for health care workers, be reworked so they are more understandable by the general public. The CDC is working on that now, Strom said.
There has been much debate about whether enough people have been vaccinated to ensure that the country is prepared for a smallpox attack. Numbers alone won't mean that a particular area is ready, said the panel.
The committee will issue a longer report in June giving its opinion on how
many people in each area need to be immunized to ensure preparedness, said
Strom.
Copyright 2002 Reuters. Reuters content is the
intellectual property of Reuters. Any copying, republication or redistribution
of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly
prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be
liable for any errors or delays in content, or for any actions taken in reliance
thereon. Reuters, the Reuters Dotted Logo and the Sphere Logo are registered
trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
Related News:
Related MEDLINEplus Pages:
Return to Vaccination News Home Page
DISCLAIMER: All information, data, and material contained, presented, or provided here is for general information purposes only and is not to be construed as reflecting the knowledge or opinions of the publisher, and is not to be construed or intended as providing medical or legal advice. The decision whether or not to vaccinate is an important and complex issue and should be made by you, and you alone, in consultation with your health care provider.