Guest guest Posted October 16, 2003 Report Share Posted October 16, 2003 > Smallpox vaccination plan 'ceased' > By Anita Manning, USA TODAY > Less than a year after President Bush announced a smallpox vaccination plan > to protect Americans in the event of a terrorist attack, a fraction of the > expected number of health workers have been immunized and the much > ballyhooed program is dead in the water. > > Federal health officials say they're not ready to declare the program dead, > but they readily acknowledge it's ailing. > > " The fact is, it's ceased, " says Ray Strikas of the Centers for Disease > Control and Prevention, " not that anyone's issued an edict to say stop. " > > The smallpox vaccination program was a central part of the Bush > administration's plan to protect the nation against bioterrorist threats in > the wake of 9/11. > > Strikas, director of smallpox preparedness and response at the CDC's > National Immunization Program, delivered a routine update Wednesday on the > smallpox program to the CDC's advisory committee on vaccines. > > Earlier in the week, he told USA TODAY that the pace of new vaccinations > dropped dramatically in April after well-publicized reports of unexpected > heart problems associated with the vaccine. At the peak, hundreds of health > workers were vaccinated. Now, it's down to " a few per week. " > > States initially told the CDC that they expected to administer 450,000 > doses to health workers who would form response teams ready to care for > patients infected with the deadly virus. Though the CDC has shipped 291,400 > doses, at last count, 38,549 people had been vaccinated. > > Even before the heart problems emerged, the plan met early opposition from > doctors, nurses and other groups concerned about vaccine risks and issues > of liability and compensation. The plan was introduced in December with > extensive publicity. > > Walter Orenstein, director of the National Immunization Program, says the > smallpox program is being folded into a broader effort in which medical > workers and labs are preparing to respond to a variety of bioterrorist weapons. > > Homeland Security Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse says the plan has > accomplished what it set out to do. " We are pleased that the program has > inoculated enough first responders and health care workers that could > respond should there be an outbreak of smallpox, " he says. > > http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2003-10-15-smallpox_x.htm > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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