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By Scott Lindlaw
Associated Press
Published December 12, 2002

WASHINGTON -- President Bush will make the smallpox vaccine available to all Americans on a voluntary basis to guard against a bioterrorist attack, senior administration officials said Wednesday.

As a first step, the president will order military personnel to begin getting smallpox vaccinations and launch a plan to offer the vaccine to emergency medical workers and response teams within weeks, the officials said.

The public will be offered the vaccine on a voluntary basis as soon as large stockpiles are licensed, probably early in 2004. Bush was to announce his plan Friday.

He talked about its broad outlines Wednesday on ABC's "World News Tonight."

"I think it ought to be voluntary," Bush said of the civilian part of the plan. "It's going to be very important for us to make sure there's ample information for people to make a wise decision."

Smallpox was declared eradicated from the world in 1980, but experts fear it could be used by hostile nations or terrorist groups in an attack. Intelligence experts believe that at least four nations, including Iraq, have unauthorized stocks of the virus.

Bush, who struggled with the vaccination decision for months, had to weigh the dangers of the disease against the risks associated with the vaccine.

Based on studies from the 1960s, experts estimate that 15 of every 1 million people vaccinated for the first time will face life-threatening complications, and one or two will die. Reactions are less common for those being revaccinated.

The decision represents quite a change since summer, when federal health advisers were recommending a much more limited vaccination program, perhaps totaling 20,000 people.

Bush is expected to recommend smallpox vaccinations for about 500,000 emergency workers and smallpox response teams that would investigate suspected cases. The White House officials said a similar number of military personnel would be ordered to get the shots.

It wasn't clear whether all military personnel being deployed to the Persian Gulf region for possible war with Iraq would receive the shots.

Eventually, the vaccine will be made available to all Americans, though the government probably won't encourage them to get it, officials said.

Federal health officials are preparing a large education effort to help people decide whether to be vaccinated. Opinion polls, including one released Wednesday, indicate most people would get the vaccine if given the chance. But health officials fear that many people don't adequately understand the risks.

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