Immunization Newsbriefs (c) Copyright
Information Inc., Bethesda, MD. Brought to you by the National Network for
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http://www.immunizationinfo.org.
Ottawa medical officer of health Robert Cushman
believes vaccination of all 1.1 million Ottawa citizens would require the city's
entire health-care sector, which means that all other health care, besides
medical emergencies, would be temporarily halted. The World Health Organization
and the United States believe a "ring" or "search-and-contain" vaccination
method, which requires vaccination of infected persons and those with whom they
have had contact, is best method for countering a smallpox outbreak. The U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention believes vaccinating 1 million people
in a single city would require 20 emergency vaccination clinics that operate at
least 16 hours per day with 235 workers handling an average of 5,000 patients
per day in order to stay ahead of the illness. However, Canada only has 380,000
doses of the smallpox vaccine stockpiled, with plans to obtain more in the near
future.
ALL INFORMATION, DATA, AND
MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION
PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS
OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR
LEGAL ADVICE. THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND
COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH
YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.
"A foolish faith in authority is the worst enemy of truth."
-- Albert Einstein, letter to a friend, 1901
"I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves, and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education."
-- Thomas Jefferson, letter to William C. Jarvis, September 28, 1820
"What's the point of vaccination if it doesn't protect you from the unvaccinated?"
-- Sandy Gottstein
"Who gets to decide what the greater good is and how many will be sacrificed to it?"