SMALLPOX VACCINATIONS CONSIDERED FOR ENTIRE U.S.

San Jose Mercury News ^ | 4/01/02 | Julie Sevrens Lyons & Lisa M. Krieger

[goody2shooz]

In a major shift in public health policy that underscores government concerns about bioterrorism, federal health officials are gathering enough smallpox vaccine to inoculate the entire country and are considering a widespread vaccination campaign.

By December, according to public health leaders in Washington D.C., the U.S. government will have more than 100 million doses of the vaccine in hand, an amount they say could be effectively diluted to make the shots available to everyone in the country. An inoculation effort using the sometimes risky vaccine would be new to millions of Americans born after the United States stopped offering the shots in 1972.

[Texasforever]

If quarantines come to pass, it probably won't matter much whether you've been vaccinated or not

Small pox spreads very rapidly and has a short incubation period. Yes there may be some regional quantine if the outbreak is limited to that region but I am talking about those that refuse to get the vaccination and contract the disease. There will be many "rugged individualists" that will insist there is no authority for the government to completely isolate them. Rather than argue with them, they will likely just be shot on the spot. Small Pox is one of the most hideous disease known to man and quarantine is not an option that can be debated.

[bonesmccoy]

It's impossible to quarantine the virus due to the rapid movement of people from one region to another. Voluntary immunization should be permissible. I object when the US gov't (or any gov't) obstructs the sales of vaccines/immunizations. If I want to vaccinate myself against smallpox, I should be permitted to do so.

[lwoodham]

I suggest that we innoculate all the descent non-barbaric non-arabic countries and then unleash this bitch on the rest of the world. Game over. Press "Start" for new game. And do not under any circumstances allow France to be innoculated.

[goody2shooz]

That's a good, sensible guess.

[American in Israel]

Israel last month came up with a new form of the vaccine that does not have serious side effects. Preliminary testing shows that it is more effective than the old vaccine too. This move by our government shows that they are worried, and do not have time to wait for the new stuff to be manufactured.

[Mulder]

I say we send them and Mecca straight to hell ASAP... end of story, end of problem!

LOL! Works for me.

Just give me a heads-up, so I can go order a pizza and grab a cigar before turning on the TV to watch it "live".

Hopefully, it won't be on pay-per-view (even though I'd pay through the nose to watch it, the networks don't need to know that beforehand).

[LurkedLongEnough]

On March 28, I got the following email from the New England Journal of Medicine (subscriber list). The posted article only reconfirms the apprehension I felt by reading the email.

THE NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE

EARLY RELEASE

Because of possible public health implications, the following articles are being published early (on March 28, 2002). They are now available on our Web site (http://www.nejm.org) and will appear in the April 25 issue of the Journal.

__________________________________________________________________

Perspective: Smallpox and Bioterrorism - J.M. Drazen

Clinical Responses to Undiluted and Diluted Smallpox Vaccine - S.E. Frey and Others

Dose-Related Effects of Smallpox Vaccine - S.E. Frey and Others

Current Concepts: Diagnosis and Management of Smallpox - J.G. Breman and D.A. Henderson

Editorial: Smallpox Vaccination Policy -- The Need for Dialogue - A.S. Fauci

Sounding Board: The Case for Voluntary Smallpox Vaccination - W.J. Bicknell

Images in Clinical Medicine: Eczema Vaccinatum -- A Timely Reminder - A.E. Moses and R. Cohen-Poradosu

Letter to the Editor: Smallpox, October 1945 - M. Dworetzky

[DETAILER]

I was born in the late 60's, and therefore I do believe I was vaccinated- I have the old vaccination scar on my shoulder. Did that include smallpox? and if so is it still effective?

[FreedomPoster]

If you're unlucky enough to live in an area that's slated for quarantine, that's most likely what you'll get.

Because of this and many other civil defense reasons, I'd suggest everyone have a couple week's worth of food and water on hand in their house. This isn't as difficult as it sounds. I've got a 55 gallon blue polypropylene drum full of water (with an appropriate amount of bleach) lurking in my crawl space. IIRC, it was less than $100, including the little siphon pump.

Bioterrorism quarantine, natural disasters, threats to the water supply - there are lots of good reasons for this sort of home front preparedness.

[kidd]

Thanks for the link. Yipes.

[Bravada]

Something just smacks of something weird here. I don't see how it's possible that this amount of vaccine was just suddenly "discovered." With synagogues being attacked in France and who knows what else developing, you have to wonder if the vials were not a discovery but a plant. Yes, yes, of course "they" (government officials) will be testing it. As for me I won't take it.

[Savage Beast]

“government officials have been seeking to secure a civilian stockpile of 286 million doses -- enough to vaccinate the entire U.S. population in the event of an outbreak. ”

“The death rate for smallpox vaccination in healthy adults is about one per million ”

“this is fewer than the number of Americans killed in car wrecks every two days. And it is far fewer than the hundreds of thousands of people who would likely die if an outbreak occurred in America and the population wasn't immunized. ”

This situation could have been and should have been anticipated.

The best minds do not go into medicine.

This is yet one more casualty of the insane, reckless, and self-serving attack on the medical profession by the legal profession. On the surface, it appears harmless enough, maybe even beneficial. But it is very destructive.

Eliminate the threat of catastrophic litigation; stop shunting the best minds into other fields; and they will once again suffuse health care.

[Minnesoootan]

I was asking myself the same question,I was born in '64 and remember the innoculation parties and the red sugar cubes for polio.I was lead to believe it(smallpox) was a boost to the immune system for life,but is it more like a tetnus(sp?) booster to be completely effective? I guess I will ask my Dr. the next time in....unless a fabulous freeper comes through for us! ;-)

[Mixer]

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< PING >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

[Mixer]

The death rate for smallpox vaccination in healthy adults is about one per million, meaning an estimated 180 people would die if all American adults were vaccinated.

Say no to vaccinations.

[happygrl]

Yes, I am in agreement with you. The following is a real eye-opener: Read this article; "The Demon in the Freezer"

http://cryptome.org/smallpox-wmd.htm

[Let's Roll]

"I've been vacinated for smallpox twice, i'm not getting it again."

If you've been vaccinated twice, you wouldn't need to be vaccinated again. And if you don't want it, you shouldn't have to be vaccinated, but with a mortality rate of 25-35% and almost everyone else scarred for life I hope most Americans will choose to be vaccinated. That's a conservative 70,000,000 American deaths against hundreds that the vaccine may kill. I wish I could get odds like that playing the lottery.

[happygrl]

Thanks for the links, bookmarking for reading.

[Jerry_M]

I was last vaccinated for smallpox in 1980, while in the military. However, I believe that the vaccination is only good for about 10 years. Thus, probably only a handful of people in this country are protected.

[happygrl]

Does this mean that Israel plans an imminent nation-wide vaccination program ?