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May 29, 2002

U.S. IMMUNIZATION NEWS

"A Shot in the Dark: Swine Flu's Vaccine Lessons"

Washington Post (www.washingtonpost.com) (05/27/02) P. A9; Brown, David

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention panel will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of making the smallpox vaccine available in the United States.  The occurrence of swine flu in 1976 was the last time that the government utilized an emergency immunization program.  The campaign was hurt by the fact that supplies were limited by manufacturing mistakes, insurance companies would not cover vaccine liability, one dose did not protect children, and that the vaccine raised people's risk for Guillain-Barre syndrome.  Swine flu, a mutated strain of which is thought to have killed millions during the Spanish flu pandemic in 1918 and 1919, only killed one American in 1976 and never became an epidemic.

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