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December 30, 2002

U.S. IMMUNIZATION NEWS

"Smallpox Expert Has Doubts"

Seattle Post-Intelligencer (www.seattlep-I.com) (12/27/02) P. B3; Paulson, Tom

Former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) head Dr. Bill Foege, who is one of the foremost smallpox authorities in the world, believes that the public health community should move more cautiously in the matter of smallpox vaccinations, given the serious and occasionally fatal side effects.  Foege worked in Africa during the 1960s and worked out a way to use smallpox vaccination selectively to contain and suppress outbreaks.  He says that because the smallpox vaccines protect against disease up to four days after exposure, preemptive vaccination is not necessary.  He thinks the shots should be held for an outbreak.  Foege--who is now a consultant to the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine panel on bioterrorism preparedness--pointed out that "there are a lot of circumstances today that didn't exist 30 years ago when we were still vaccinating to control the natural spread of the disease," and he noted that "there are still some serious questions that need to be addressed."

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