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April 1, 2002

U.S. IMMUNIZATION NEWS

"Smallpox Vaccine's Use May Be Problematic"

USA Today (www.usatoday.com) (04/01/02) P. 6D; Manning, Anita

In the United States, the stockpile of smallpox vaccine is being expanded, although health officials are not yet recommending a campaign of mass inoculation against the disease.  Currently, the government has approximately 15.4 million doses of the smallpox vaccine, but the drug manufacturer Aventis Pasteur recently announced that it will add more than 85 million doses to that stockpile.  According to D.A. Henderson, director of the Office of Public Health Preparedness, while the smallpox vaccine is effective and generally safe to use, it can cause severe side effects.  In many cases, people who have been vaccinated suffer from nausea, headaches, and inflammation around the site of the inoculation, while about one to two people per million die as a result of the vaccination.  The last naturally occurring case of smallpox was recorded in 1977, and since then, the only remaining known stocks of the virus were kept in two laboratories: one in Russia and the other in the United States.  Nevertheless, bioterrorism experts believe some rogue governments or criminals may possess the smallpox virus, which could be used to manufacturer a bioterrorist weapon.  Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, wrote in the most recent issue of The New England Journal of Medicine that a public debate should be held as to whether a smallpox vaccination campaign should be launched in the United States, taking into account both the pros and the cons of such a plan.

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.