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http://www.roanoke.com/roatimes/news/story141179.html

Wednesday, December 11, 2002
Some medical personnel eligible in Roanoke, New River valleys and Alleghany Highlands
Plans under way for regional smallpox vaccinations

The voluntary inoculation is expected to be made available to the public by late 2003 or early 2004.

By JEFF STURGEON
THE ROANOKE TIMES

   Authorities are preparing to vaccinate roughly 1,000 doctors, nurses and other medical workers in the Roanoke and New River valleys and Alleghany Highlands against the threat of a smallpox attack by terrorists.

    Officials aren't responding to any specific threat or new information. Under plans expected to be released soon by the Bush administration, smallpox vaccine will be offered to selected medical workers nationally as part of the anti-terrorism campaign that began after Sept. 11, 2001.

    Next in line for the vaccine would be police and fire departments and rescue squads. After that, shots would be available to the public in late 2003 or early 2004, according to the Virginia Department of Health. The vaccination will be voluntary for all.

    "The probability of a case of smallpox is low, but since the consequences of an outbreak would be great, we must be prepared," said Virginia Health Commissioner Robert Stroube. His remarks accompanied the filing of a confidential, statewide smallpox plan this week with the federal government.

    In as little as a month, doctors and nurses could be lining up for vaccination at the Roanoke Civic Center or Salem Civic Center, or both, in a scene that would foreshadow how mass inoculation of the public would take place.

    The goal is to create teams of protected medical personnel to aid victims if there was an attack. The teams are to consist of emergency room staff, intensive care staff, family doctors, specialists, security officers and housekeepers - a microcosm of a hospital - as well as field personnel from public health.

    Authorities have estimated they'll need 800 medical workers in the Roanoke Valley and Alleghany Highlands and 235 in the New River Valley for the teams. The actual number of medical workers vaccinated will depend on acceptance of the vaccine and could be below 1,035.

    The nation's best bioterrorism experts have "come to the consensus it makes a lot of sense for every community to have its acute-care hospital and its public health responders vaccinated so we can handle a case if it comes," said Dr. Molly O'Dell, who directs the Roanoke and Alleghany health districts.

    "We're just cooperating with the federal government's request for us in the private sector to formulate plans in the event of a bioterrorist attack," said Dr. Hetzal Hartley, medical director for Carilion Health System occupational health services and medical director for employee health issues. "You need to have health care workers that are able to care for them [victims] without endangering their own health."

    Local health officials are confident they can muster the necessary teams. "I've been very pleased at how people have stepped forward and, I think, health care people do that," said Teresa Stowasser, the infection control nurse at Lewis-Gale Medical Center in Salem and a volunteer for the shot herself.

    The decision to have the shot can be a weighty one because 1 in 1,000 people will experience serious, but not life-threatening, side effects that may require medical attention. One or two in a million will die from the vaccine.

    For that reason, officials will screen out medical workers with conditions that make them vulnerable to side effects. In addition, vaccination program officials want prior assurance that health insurers will cover needed medical care for complications, that workers' compensation benefits will apply and life insurance policies will pay. "We are certainly going to assure that all of the details and all of the loose ends are taken care of," said Dr. Jody Hershey, who heads the New River Valley Health District.

    Hershey participates in high-level talks about such issues as president-elect of the National Association of City and County Health Officials, an organization representing all 3,000 public health agencies and departments in the country.

    Asked about the likelihood of a smallpox attack, Hershey said: "You will find people that are concerned because they say Iraq has smallpox ... they have evidence that other people have it and it is considered a viable agent in terms of bioterrorism."

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will check the completeness of Virginia's smallpox plan. Once the plan is CDC-approved, the federal government will provide vaccine for precautionary vaccinations, such as those to be scheduled for medical personnel, and also promises to deliver vaccine to the site of any attack with 12 to 18 hours of detection, said health department spokeswoman Trina Lee.

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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.