But the government has not decided to begin immunizing the country's 6.6 million people, Health Ministry spokesman Ido Hadari said. Israel also produced enough vaccine to inoculate tourists and about 300,000 foreign workers.

Hadari would not say when vaccine production began but said the decision to start was made in light of fears of a possible biological attack by Iraq or a terrorist group. It would take Israel a few days to vaccinate its people.

"The trigger could be a few things: the U.S. strike on Iraq, whenever that is, or a terrorist attack, some sort of mega-event with a lot of casualties," Hadari said.

Iraq attacked Israel with Scud missiles in the 1991 Gulf War but they were not fitted with biological or chemical weapons.

When asked if the vaccines would be supplied to the more than 3 million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, Hadari said, "When the time will come we will decide how to use the vaccines."

About 100 Israelis have been inoculated so antidotes can be prepared for any side effects, Hadari said.

Israel stopped vaccinating children against smallpox in 1978. A year later, the World Health Organization said the virus was eradicated from the world.