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Children Won't Get Smallpox Vaccine
Officials Cite Ethical, Safety Concerns

 

POSTED: 5:59 p.m. EST December 14, 2002

 

Ethical and safety concerns will keep children from having access to the smallpox vaccine.

Anthony Fauci, who heads the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, says "the currently existing mechanisms of clinical trials" don't even allow testing the vaccine on as few as 20 children.

Fauci also feels too many people who say they want smallpox vaccine don't understand its potentially dangerous side effects. Fauci says they need to eliminate a "disconnect between desire for vaccination and full understanding" of the potential adverse effects.

 

Fauci joined Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson and other federal health officials in a teleconference on the vaccination program. They said they're proceeding very carefully to make it as safe as possible.


 

 

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