NurseRatchet
12-11-02, 19:17
Bush: Military to get smallpox shots
President will also urge vaccinations for emergency workers
MSNBC NEWS SERVICES
Dec. 11 — President Bush will order smallpox vaccinations for military personnel and will launch a plan to inoculate emergency medical workers and response teams within weeks, he said in a television interview broadcast Wednesday. The general public will be offered the vaccine on a voluntary basis as soon as large stockpiles are licensed, a process that could take until early 2004. Bush will formally announce his plan Friday.
Eventually, the vaccine will be made available to all Americans, though the government will probably not encourage them to get it, according to senior officials.
BUSH, WHO struggled for months with the decision about whether to begin wide-scale smallpox vaccinations, had to weigh the dangers of the disease against the risks associated with the vaccine.
The president talked about the broad outlines of his plan Wednesday on ABC’s “World News Tonight.”
He said he had decided to make the smallpox vaccine available to Americans on a voluntary basis to guard against a possible biological warfare attack.
“I think it ought to be a voluntary plan. ... I don’t think people ought to be compelled to make the decision,” Bush said in an interview with ABC’s Barbara Walters.
Bush is expected to urge smallpox vaccinations for 500,000 emergency workers most likely to be exposed to the virus in a bioterror attack and order 500,000 military personnel to get the shots, White House officials said.
The decision represents remarkable progress since summer, when federal health advisers were recommending a much more limited vaccination program, perhaps totaling 15,000 to 20,000 people. Those plans scaled up quickly amid concerns about war with Iraq.
...
The new vaccine would be offered in stages, beginning with those most likely to encounter a smallpox patient. That includes people on state response teams, who would investigate suspicious cases, and people who work in hospital emergency rooms.
In a second phase of vaccination, the shot could be offered to other health care workers and emergency responders such as police, fire and emergency medical technicians. Federal officials probably will recommend the shot for these roughly 10 million people.
Federal officials are working with states and hospitals to identify those who most need to be inoculated.
Based on studies from the 1960s, experts estimate that 15 out of every 1 million people vaccinated for the first time will face life-threatening complications, and one or two will die. Reactions are less common for those being revaccinated.
Using these data, vaccinating the nation could lead to nearly 3,000 life-threatening complications and at least 170 deaths. But the administration concluded that the government cannot make it available to some people and not others who may want it.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
Link to MSNBC article (http://www.msnbc.com/news/846424.asp?0cv=CA01)
Looks as though it's time to roll up our sleeves.
NR
President will also urge vaccinations for emergency workers
MSNBC NEWS SERVICES
Dec. 11 — President Bush will order smallpox vaccinations for military personnel and will launch a plan to inoculate emergency medical workers and response teams within weeks, he said in a television interview broadcast Wednesday. The general public will be offered the vaccine on a voluntary basis as soon as large stockpiles are licensed, a process that could take until early 2004. Bush will formally announce his plan Friday.
Eventually, the vaccine will be made available to all Americans, though the government will probably not encourage them to get it, according to senior officials.
BUSH, WHO struggled for months with the decision about whether to begin wide-scale smallpox vaccinations, had to weigh the dangers of the disease against the risks associated with the vaccine.
The president talked about the broad outlines of his plan Wednesday on ABC’s “World News Tonight.”
He said he had decided to make the smallpox vaccine available to Americans on a voluntary basis to guard against a possible biological warfare attack.
“I think it ought to be a voluntary plan. ... I don’t think people ought to be compelled to make the decision,” Bush said in an interview with ABC’s Barbara Walters.
Bush is expected to urge smallpox vaccinations for 500,000 emergency workers most likely to be exposed to the virus in a bioterror attack and order 500,000 military personnel to get the shots, White House officials said.
The decision represents remarkable progress since summer, when federal health advisers were recommending a much more limited vaccination program, perhaps totaling 15,000 to 20,000 people. Those plans scaled up quickly amid concerns about war with Iraq.
...
The new vaccine would be offered in stages, beginning with those most likely to encounter a smallpox patient. That includes people on state response teams, who would investigate suspicious cases, and people who work in hospital emergency rooms.
In a second phase of vaccination, the shot could be offered to other health care workers and emergency responders such as police, fire and emergency medical technicians. Federal officials probably will recommend the shot for these roughly 10 million people.
Federal officials are working with states and hospitals to identify those who most need to be inoculated.
Based on studies from the 1960s, experts estimate that 15 out of every 1 million people vaccinated for the first time will face life-threatening complications, and one or two will die. Reactions are less common for those being revaccinated.
Using these data, vaccinating the nation could lead to nearly 3,000 life-threatening complications and at least 170 deaths. But the administration concluded that the government cannot make it available to some people and not others who may want it.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
Link to MSNBC article (http://www.msnbc.com/news/846424.asp?0cv=CA01)
Looks as though it's time to roll up our sleeves.
NR