ASHINGTON, Dec. 21 — President Bush received a smallpox vaccination today, less than two weeks after he said on television that he would start a national program to inoculate the public.

Jeanie Mamo, a White House spokeswoman, said that a senior immunization technician from Walter Reed Medical Center inoculated Mr. Bush in his left arm at 12:15 p.m. today at the White House. "The president feels fine and there are no side effects," Ms. Mamo said.

Under Mr. Bush's plan, 500,000 military personnel are to be vaccinated starting after the first of the year. The administration has also recommended that 10 million emergency workers, like police officers and firefighters, as well as health care workers be given the vaccine.

The vaccine will also be made available to the general public in 2004, for those who want to take it.