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That is, IF you can get the vaccine... this drug is available, and they are saying it appears to be effective against smallpox. The vaccine will not be available until AFTER SUMMER 2003 - and unless you are one of the luck 15-40 million who are chosen to receive it, you will NOT get a vaccine. Cidofovir is already available, it's already FDA approved, and it's already been proclaimed by the government as probably effective against smallpox. It's dangerous, but so is the smallpox vaccine. Cidofovir's available, the vaccine is not. The government has already approved it and tested it - in event of smallpox infection, we should be able to have the option to use cidofovir if we choose.

Hey, cidofovir looks promising for sure. However, it may not work. The FDA has approved its use for the treatment of CMV retinitis, NOT SMALLPOX. So the FDA believes it is relatively safe, under certain clinical conditions, and relatively effective, under certain clinical conditions, for the treatment of CMV retinitis. It will be VERY VERY DIFFICULT to work out if it's effective against smallpox, because (thankfully) no-one has the disease -- so there's no population on which to test it. Animal models are suggestive but far from conclusive -- plenty of drugs don't get through phase III trials (the big efficacy trials that do double-blinded tests on a big population). So a hint of caution may be in order.