HHS Set to Order Smallpox Vaccine for All Americans

Washington Post ^ | November 7, 2001 | Ceci Connolly

[concerned about politics]

Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson said yesterday that he expects to sign a contract this weekend to purchase enough smallpox vaccine for every American but that he has warned the White House the cost could be quadruple the $509 million he originally estimated -- or equivalent to the department's entire $1.9 billion bioterrorism budget.

[concerned about politics]

FYI

[loulou]

I'll send in prepayment for my family.....

[arkfreepdom]

I think this is a very good idea. May never be necessary, but it will be a great deterrent from anyone even attempting it.

[spectre]

I'll be happy to pay for it, just like I did the flu shot!

[CharlotteVRWC]

I'll pay extra if I can get it sooner.

[North Coast Conservative]

Did you know that the smallpox serum is cultured from cell lines derived from aborted fetuses? I refuse to be treated with anything derived from the murder of another human being.

In God We Trust.....Semper Fi

[MotherSpector]

Well the ones who can afford to pay, will have to pay. This vaccination is very important to everyone living in America.

[arkfreepdom]

It does not have to come from aborted fetus cell lines. It is a disservice to tell people it does. 1/3 of unvaccinated children could die in an epidemic. I agree with you on stopping use of these cell lines, though.

[Black Agnes]

Not just the smallpox vaccine, several others. The issue here is the talk of 'mandatory vaccination' and the sole and exclusive use of fetal cell lines to produce the vaccine. They would NEVER use pig cells because the Jews or Moslems would be offended. Why do Christians get shafted? Why the complete lack of choice for those of us with religious issues with this type of vaccine preparation? Why not produce an alternate using the previous method (that most everyone innoculated with it when it was available used) for those of us with religious issues?

New Smalllpox Vaccine May Use Aborted Fetal Cell Line, MRC-5

[Black Agnes]

Read the link I posted. True, it doesn't HAVE to come from a fetal stem cell line. However, it DOES come from a fetal stem cell line. As do several OTHER vaccines.

[arkfreepdom]

Then argue against that. I'll bet the Bush Administration would have similar standing. Still the fact is if it was needed emergently, then I would give it to my children.

[HamiltonJay]

Just go get cowpox... cheaper and proven effective..

[Liberty Ship]

Well, it looks like they are doing all they can do given the situation in which we find ourselves. Still, I would like to see some fingerpointing here. Who let our defenses down?

From the book "Germs:"

"Pentagon officials argued that a public ceremony announcing the elimination of the smallpox virus would be a charade. First, WHO had had no means to determine whether all countries had carried out their pledges to destroy existing stocks or transfer the virus to WHO repositories. It had simply accepted national declarations. Second, Pentagon officials believed that several nations, including American allies, had also secretely decided to maintain clandestine stocks. Even if every country was smallpox free, the deadly virus might be recreated from related microbes if a country wanted to make new stocks. Smallpox, they argued, was simply too tempting a weapon to abandon.

"Finally, they argued, destroying the Russian and American stocks would complicate efforts to develop a new vaccine and antiviral drugs against the disease. America's population, which had not been vaccinated against smallpox since 1972, was particularly vulnerable. If the contagious virus was used in a terrorist attack, one expert said, 'we are all Indians,' a reference to the devastating effects smallpox had on the Native American population after European settlers had arrived."

I suspect that we owe our defenselessness to a bunch of socks-and-sandals liberals. Also, I don't see why everyone can't pay for his own vaccine. $10.00? Why is this an entitlement? Looks like they are planning to make it mandatory. If it had been available, I never would have let my immunity lapse. But I have reservations about taking a shot that has been rushed into production.

[Myrddin]

$2 billion for 300 million doses. About $7 each. That's dirt cheap. I was charged $114 for a 5 minute visit for a sore throat...and that's with insurance coverage. The doctor misdiagnosed my sore throat and put me on antibiotics. The sore throat was from gastric reflux. The point is that I'm quite happy to pay $7 for each of my family members to re-pay the governments emergency dispersal to get the vaccine out here in short order. The consequences of a smallpox infection is orders of magnitude worse than $7.

[Wrigley]

Anyone know how long the vacine is good for? I think some have recieved it before.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

Anyone know how long the vacine is good for? I think some have recieved it before.

I don't think they know for sure - but the general school of thought is that you're probably not protected if you had it as a child.

[homeschool mama]

If you had the smallpox shot as a child you'll need another one. I heard the window is 10 years.

[Liberty Ship]

The official line is that it is good for 10 years. Unofficially, there is speculation that protection decreases lineraly after that meaning that you might get a milder case if you have ever been vaccinated than if you have never been vaccinated.

Another school of thought is that when we "conquored" smallpox THEN stopped vaccinating, we created a society with zero immunity to the disease which was worse than before.

There is no way to test these theories given that WHO decalared smallpox dead. However, I tend to agree with the DOD reps in my previous post. Better safe than sorry. At the moment we are sorry and the scramble to produce vaccine proves that those opposed to declaring victory over smallpox and making the vaccine unavaible to the public have been vindicated.

[Jim Noble]

It was absurd to disarm (stop vaccination) because of a paper event.

We knew and accepted that variola virus would survive in Atlanta and Moscow (at a minimum) and we went ahead and created the largest susceptible population in human history (our own children).

It's like scrapping the Navy after the Kellog-Briand Pact in 1928 outlawed war.

Absurd.

[arkfreepdom]

No one knows for sure, but there is a good chance some immunity is conferred for a lifetime. Studies done many years ago suggest that people who had had cow pox were immune their entire life.