The Health Ministry has adopted the position of the American Academy of Pediatrics, which announced Tuesday that vaccinating children against smallpox is not recommended, due to possible complications.

Health Ministry officials added, however, that in the event of a real threat of a terror attack using the smallpox virus, or alternatively if an actual case of the illness is diagnosed, the country's entire population - including children - will be vaccinated.

Until 1979, all Israelis were vaccinated against smallpox during childhood, and until 1996 all conscripts joining the Israel Defense Forces were vaccinated again.

"If a person has never been vaccinated against the disease, and the older he is, the higher the likelihood of developing some complications after receiving the vaccine," according to Dr. Boaz Lev, director general of the Health Ministry.

Medical literature states that one in every million people receiving the vaccine will die of it, and one in 200,000-300,000 will contract meningitis. The vaccine also has other, lighter, side effects such as skin rashes.

These risks only refer to people receiving the vaccine for the first time, Lev says. "Since those never vaccinated in Israel are under the age of 25, that is the age group we must focus on, in an attempt to minimize complications," Lev added.