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THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
Utah health officials began preparing Monday to be able to rapidly
vaccinate thousands of people against smallpox should the deadly disease
return through an act of terrorism.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention distributed a 48-page
document to each state Monday detailing national guidelines and suggestions
to vaccinate 1 million people in 10 days. The Utah Department of Health
received its copy at 11 a.m. and is moving to formulate its plan.
Richard Melton, deputy director of the department, said it would take a
staff of 4,500 spread among 20 locations to accomplish the task.
"We'll use the document to create a Utah plan," he said.
It will take several weeks to work through the logistics of putting such
a plan into effect in Utah. If an emergency required action sooner, the
state could create a makeshift plan in less than 24 hours, Melton said.
It has been decades since smallpox was seen in this country, and the
disease has been eradicated from all populations, so officials would assume
that a single case of smallpox meant the nation was under attack. They would
immediately vaccinate those who had contact with the highly infectious
patient in hopes of stemming the spread of the disease.
Experts would then assess the scope of the attack -- including the
number of patients, circumstances of exposure and details of their disease
-- to determine how many others need protection, officials said Monday. It
is possible that even a single patient would trigger vaccinations across the
entire country, they said.
"Once there is a case of smallpox, what has been theoretical up till now
suddenly becomes real. We would anticipate many Americans would want to have
access to the vaccine," Julie Gerberding, director of the CDC, said.
The blueprint released Monday gives states considerable information
about how to deliver vaccinations to a large number of people all at once.
It includes:
* Ready-to-go medical screening, consent forms and information to
distribute about smallpox and the side effects of the vaccine.
* Details about how to store and prepare the vaccine.
* A list of places where security will be needed, including clinics and
vaccine storage sites.
* Types and numbers of workers needed per clinic. Among the required
workers: volunteers to run an informational video, nurses to give the shots
and translators to assist non-English speakers.
* Messages to deliver to people waiting for shots, including how long
the wait is. And messages for the media, including immediate public service
announcements.
* Criteria for choosing a vaccine clinic site before a smallpox attack.
* Issues to consider in transporting people to the site.
* Information about who should not receive the vaccine because of the
risk of side effects.
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The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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