Govt. Devotes $20 Million to Safer Smallpox Vaccine

Insight on the News - World (Issue: 03/18/03 ) ^ | Posted March 3, 2003 | Kelly Patricia O Meara

[Paleo Conservative]

Last week the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the award of two contracts together worth $20 million to develop safer smallpox vaccines. According to HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson, "To protect ourselves from the remote but extremely grave threat of a deliberate release of smallpox virus, we need a vaccine that can be safely given to all Americans, including individuals with weak immune systems, children and pregnant women."

Pamela McInnes, the deputy division director of microbiology and infectious diseases at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, says the problem with the current vaccine is that it is "a live, replicating viral vaccine, which, when people are immunized, the virus continues to replicate in human cells. The issue is that when people are immune compromised they are less able to contain a replicating viral vaccine. These groups of people cannot mount an antibody response and keep it under control. ... The virus will spread out of control and can have devastating consequences. The proposed vaccine does not go through a full replicating cycle. So it's not that it's a dead virus; it's a live virus, but it does not finish a full replication cycle so you don't have the dangers of the spreading of the virus. There is sufficient replication to simulate an immune response but not sufficient that it becomes a self-perpetuating replication."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) the number of Americans unable to take the current smallpox vaccine is substantial. These include people who:

• have or have had eczema or atopic dermatitis;

• have skin conditions such as burns, chicken pox, shingles, impetigo, herpes, severe acne or psoriasis;

• have weakened immune systems from cancer treatments, an organ transplant, HIV, primary immune-deficiency disorders, some severe autoimmune disorders and medications that treat autoimmune disorders, and other illnesses that can weaken the immune system;

• are pregnant or plan to become pregnant within one month of vaccination;

• are allergic to the vaccine or any of its ingredients;

• are younger than 12 months of age (the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices advises against nonemergency use of smallpox vaccine in children younger than 18 years of age);

• are 65 or older and in nonemergency situations;

• have moderate or severe short-term illness;

• currently are breast-feeding;

• or are using steroid drops in eyes.

According to McInnes, there are "15 million people in the U.S. with symptoms of atopic dermatitis and roughly 4 million births per year." That's 19 million people in just two of the categories listed by the CDC who are unable to take the current smallpox vaccine, so it certainly makes sense that a safer vaccine is being developed. The problem, however, is that it may take years before the new vaccine is available to the public.

[Paleo Conservative]

This article has an excellent list of people who should not take the smallpox vaccine.

[Paleo Conservative]

The problem, however, is that it may take years before the new vaccine is available to the public.

This is ridiculous. There is a German vaccine developed in the 1960s that is ready to be mass-produced now.

[FairOpinion]

Supposedly there was enough vaccine produced that the US bought, since 9-11, to be enough for everyone in the US.

So why aren't they make it available on a voluntary basis at least, so those who want it, can get it.

Making it available in a non-crisis, or pre-crisis setting would allow more assurance to screen out those who may have a negative reaction, giving it to those who can get it and want it, and treat any reaction, if it occurs.

There won't be time for any of this, if we wait, until smallpox arrives to the US and hundreds, even thousands of people start to get sick in dozens of cities, as the first wave of infections from a terror attack.

[Paleo Conservative]

So why aren't they make it available on a voluntary basis at least, so those who want it, can get it.

Politics! Read bonesmccoy's posts on numerous smallpox threads on Free Republic. What really bothers me is that I can't have any choice of vaccines. My brother and I both have had problems with eczema, so we are not supposed to be vaccinated with the standard vaccine unless there is a smallpox emergency.

[Free the USA]

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/bump-list

[Paleo Conservative]

Supposedly there was enough vaccine produced that the US bought, since 9-11, to be enough for everyone in the US.

But as this article points out, a sizable proportion of the population should not take the current vaccine unless there is an emergency. I am posting a link to a thread where I posted information about a much safer vaccine being evaluated in Germany. It was developed and tested in the 1960s. I don't see why it should not be made available in the US immediately.

Bavarian Nordic initiates Phase II of the clinical development of MVA-BN as a safe smallpox vaccine