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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: BigBull who wrote (66805)	1/18/2003 9:27:52 PM
From: Ilaine	Respond to of 281500

>>Smallpox vaccine plan starts Tuesday, despite concerns - Some health workers may opt out over risks, compensation issues Sabin Russell, Chronicle Medical Writer Saturday, January 18, 2003 Despite growing unease among health care workers, and a new report counseling caution, the Bush administration plans to ship its first batches of smallpox vaccine to states on Tuesday, launching a program to immunize local "first response" teams against a bioterrorist attack. "We need to do what we need to do, which is to get this show on the road," said Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in a telephone press briefing with reporters. Both homeland security and national defense concerns dictate that the voluntary vaccination program proceed quickly, she said. "We are in fact living in a dangerous world, where a smallpox attack is possible," said Gerberding, whose agency is overseeing the program. Initial shipments of vaccine to 11 states that have requested the first doses are likely to begin Tuesday, Gerberding said, although she refused to identify which ones -- saying it was up to individual states to disclose such information. California is not one of them, according to California Department of Health Services spokesman Ken August. Concerns about the safety of the vaccine -- which has not been widely used in three decades and can cause life-threatening complications -- have led some hospitals to opt out of or minimize their participation in the first phase of the program. The "first response" phase goal is to vaccinate 500,000 medical volunteers, who would be the first to encounter patients infected in a smallpox attack.<< More at: sfgate.com Practical suggestion - keep y'all's gas tanks full.