Bush May Order Everyone Injected With Smallpox Vaccine

Rense.com | 11-9-1

[Magician]

All Americans could be forced to have smallpox jabs under plans being considered by President Bush, despite fears that such a programme would kill hundreds.

Underlining White House fears about America's vulnerability to a new wave of bioterrorism, Mr Bush said that he was discussing with Tommy Thompson, the Health Secretary, whether to order mandatory vaccinations.

"One of my concerns is if we were to have universal vaccination, some might lose their life," he said. "But I'm looking at all options, all possibilities."

Authorities in the US have already announced that they intend to stockpile 300 million doses of smallpox vaccine, enough for the country's 260 million citizens. But last night was the first time that anyone had suggested they would be compulsory rather than used to cover an emergency.

Mr Bush made his remarks yesterday as he was touring the Centres for Disease Control in Atlanta, which houses one of only two officially kept samples of smallpox since the World Health Organisation declared in 1979 that the virus had been eradicated. Earlier this week scientists at the Vektor Institute in Siberia, which holds the other sample, gave warning that underpaid Russian workers could be tempted to sell the virus to terrorists.

The last case of smallpox was in 1977. The vaccine is fatal for one in a million cases.

[Illbay]

If you're under marshall law its another story yet again.

[AM2000]

It might be smarter for the President to strongly recommend that everyone be injected, and make the vaccine free of charge to anyone who shows up.. not just citizens.. smallpox won't ask for your immigration status before it gets you..

[Illbay]

...free of charge upon showing evidence of US citizenship.

I disagree. Vaccinate everyone. The more people who are vaccinated the lower the risk of outbreak. Unless you're going to mass-deport all the non-Citizens--a practical impossibility--then you're better off jabbing everyone.

[JMJ333]

Have any info about how this vaccine was developed? I don't seem to remember it being on that list of vaccines made from the lung cells of aborted fetuses.

[mercy]

Uh, just a suggestion. Lose the pink and the bunnies. You were classier without them. ;=}

[BunnySlippers]

The site "rense.com" looks very wacky ... flying saucers, Big Foot, metaphysical stuff. I want to hear this from a legitimate source first.

[Frohickey]

To those silly ninnies who say "They can't make me take it, I have rights!" I'd like to remind you that we are AT WAR, with an enemy that may well have this particular weapon. If you are unwilling to be vaccinated, then you will endanger others.

You only endanger yourself, and others who have not been vaccinated. Since these others, by not taking the vaccine, have already decided to take the chance of getting smallpox, and are endangering themselves, I do not see any issue.

[Wait4Truth]

I'm with you, sink! I'll take the shot! I have seen pictures of people with smallpox and it is one ugly disease. Plus, the death is not pretty. People that get angry that the President may want to protect them from themselves make me a bit ill.

[OK]

If you were vaccinated, you should still have a scar at your age. It might be on the back of your shoulder.

[classygreeneyedblonde]

I like my colors....

[Illbay]

The scar often fades with time. I can't see my scar, but I know I was vaccinated, since I was born in '57.

[gcruse]

I disagree. Vaccinate everyone. The more people who are vaccinated the lower the risk of outbreak. Unless you're going to mass-deport all the non-Citizens--a practical impossibility--then you're better off jabbing everyone.

No, no, no.  Think about it.  If we don't
vaccinate non-citizens, then the people
who are most likely to spread the toxin
will know they are just killing their own.
It's a great disincentive.
 

[wimpycat]

No President can FORCE every American to get a smallpox vaccination. What is he going to do, arrest the millions who may not want to take the vaccine? Hell, the Census Bureau can't even FIND everyone. How are they gonna give everyone a shot?

The states can prevent your children from attending school without them, prevent you from taking or keeping a job without them, and if there is an outbreak (which could spread quickly, since it is an airborne disease with a pretty long incubation period), you can be forcibly quarantined.

[Paleo Conservative]

It is also highly contagious. In the 18th century Britain, some 6 folks were exposed when a coffin containing the remains of a well known fellow (who died 50 years before of smallpox) was exhumed by accident...they hit it while digging a new grave....cracked open the wooden casket...dust rose up and WITHIN MERE DAYS....all those exposed had smallpox and ALL OF THEM DIED!!

This is another reason to not dismantle our smallpox vaccine manufacture. There is concern that corpses of smallpox victims from previous centuries in sub-arctic regions such as Siberia might thaw and become a source of new infection.

The death rates are based on the vaccine used by WHO to erradicate smallpox. This is the vaccine that is currently in storage. The WHO website says that the risk of death for re-vaccinations is 1:4,000,000. The new vaccine is expected to be safer, but there may be a higher proportion of people with conditions making them vulnerable to complications: weakened immune systems, and excema. Also, there are lots of new antiviral drugs that could be used to treat complications.

[NoControllingLegalAuthority]

Yes. Those who refuse the vaccine and die as a result of a smallpox epidemic have chosen their fate

[jammer]

You started something using the term "allergic". I didn't see that in the article and that's not what causes the deaths (only a few of them). It is not usually an antigen-antibody (allergic) reaction.

[Honcho]

I agree, I don't think it's going to be a problem if a small minority don't want to take it. If 90% of the population has taken the vaccine (I believe that number would be low if ordered) then I would believe that using small pox as a weapon would be effectively nullified. Just my opinion.

I only wonder what information has been obtained that prompted this.

[piasa]

???

Your math is way off. There are roughly 280 million people in the US... with a rate of 1 death per million, that's 280 deaths.

It's actually going to be LESS than that, because the one per million figure is based on those million people NEVER having been vaccinated before. Why? The one per million figure is for PRIMARY vaccinations. So the figure would be much less than 280 deaths per 280 million people because people over 35 have been vaccinated at least once, and people who have served in the military since 1990 have been vaccinated at least once, and people who have travelled overseas or immigrated here since the 1986 have been vaccinated at least once... probably about 160 million people might not be vaccinated, which brings the possible deaths down to 160.

(That is a good deal better than the 30% death rate for naturally occuring smallpox, with a much higher death rate for weapon-type smallpox, which is a much more potent strain.)

Fatal complications for people who have been vaccinated before is 0.25 deaths/million... one-fourth that of primary vaccinations.

[carenot]

If the others are vaccinated, how would I endanger them if I were not?

[LaineyDee]

I'd say that everyone would have a scar if vaccinated... tho it would vary from person to person. Mine is so light (about the size of a dime on my left arm) that you can't see it unless I get a tan. I've seen others that looked like craters. If you're 35 yrs old....you lived in the era of smallpox vaccines; can you ask your Mom or siblings?