U.S. to Vaccinate 500,000 Against Smallpox

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Report: U.S. to Vaccinate 500,000 Against

Smallpox

Sun Jul 7,12:16 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government plans to vaccinate half a

million health care and emergency workers against smallpox in case of a

bioterror attack and is preparing for mass vaccinations of the public, The New

York Times reported on Sunday.

The newspaper said the government's aggressive plans, which it attributed to

federal officials, are possible because the vaccine has been produced rapidly

and stockpiled since the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

" Now we can act differently because we have more vaccine, " Dr. A.

, senior science adviser to Health and Human Services ( news - web

sites) Secretary Tommy G. .

A health department spokesman, Bill Pierce, told Reuters on Sunday the exact

number of those to be vaccinated had not yet been decided.

The 15-member Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which sets

vaccine policy in the United States, recommended on June 20 that the number

of people who get smallpox vaccinations should be expanded, but they

stopped short of advising vaccinations for the general public.

Pierce said these recommendations were very general and required more work

by HHS and the Centers for Disease Control to identify which groups should

be vaccinated.

" Secretary ultimately makes the decision on policy, but he does so

in consultation with experts from HHS and outside experts, " Pierce said by

telephone.

He said he did not know when would make the decision.

The U.S. plan to increase the number of workers vaccinated comes amid talk

of war against Iraq, which some experts suspect of hiding smallpox stocks.

, who led the global smallpox eradication program, told the Times

that if there was a crisis, " we can make vaccine available on request

throughout the community. "

About 100 million doses of the smallpox vaccine are now available and by late

this year there will be enough for every American, more than 280 million

people, the Times reported.

The government had initially planned to vaccinate only a few thousand health

workers against the highly contagious disease, which was declared eradicated

globally in 1980, eight years after the United States stopped routine

vaccinations.

Jerome M. Hauer, acting assistant secretary for emergency preparedness at

HHS, said the agency hoped to send blueprints for how to conduct mass

vaccinations to cities and states in the next week or two, the Times said.

The newspaper reported hospital workers and smallpox response teams would

begin getting shots fairly soon.

Smallpox used to killed one in three people who were infected but not

vaccinated, and most people today are considered vulnerable because

immunity is believed to diminish with time, the newspaper said.