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ALL Americans could be forced
to have smallpox jabs under plans being considered by President Bush,
despite fears that such a programme would kill hundreds.
Underlining White House fears about America’s
vulnerability to a new wave of bioterrorism, Mr Bush said that he was
discussing with Tommy Thompson, the Health Secretary, whether to order
mandatory vaccinations.
“One of my concerns is if we were to have
universal vaccination, some might lose their life,” he said. “But I’m
looking at all options, all possibilities.”
Authorities in the US have already announced
that they intend to stockpile 300 million doses of smallpox vaccine, enough
for the country’s 260 million citizens. But last night was the first time
that anyone had suggested they would be compulsory rather than used to
cover an emergency.
Mr Bush made his remarks yesterday as he was
touring the Centres for Disease Control in Atlanta, which houses one of
only two officially kept samples of smallpox since the World Health
Organisation declared in 1979 that the virus had been eradicated. Earlier
this week scientists at the Vektor Institute in Siberia, which holds the
other sample, gave warning that underpaid Russian workers could be tempted
to sell the virus to terrorists.
The last case of smallpox was in 1977. The
vaccine is fatal for one in a million cases.
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