Posted on 06/22/2002 12:48:03 PM PDT by LadyDoc
There are links at the start of the article about other bioterror diseases also.
"Folks, we do not have enough vaccine for even a small fraction of the population of the U.S., let alone our allies. However, if we just came out and admitted that, there would be massive public dissatisfaction- the image of the CDC would be harmed. Can't have that. So just go back to sleep, and we'll all agree to pretend that everything is under control".
That said, it seems to me that in a free country, I should be able to walk up to a health care provider and buy a vaccination tomorrow morning which I would like to do. I am not even so sure Rangerairborne is correct--it is in my mind explicable that CDC has enough vaccine but is not letting it out into the marketplace because they think they know better.
Nothing direct I can do about it in the immediate future. But I am not going to vote for George Bush again either.
Apparently the CDC is more than happy to sacrifice a few hundred thousand people rather than let the people make up their own minds about whether they should be vaccinated. I doubt strongly that the complications from the vaccine would be anything more than a few hundred cases of disease in those on chemotherapy and with end-stage Aids.
Infectious disease specialists say that smallpox outbreaks from a lab accident or a monkeypox mutation could be easily contained. A more pertinent question would be what about containing multiple attacks in large venues like stadiums or convention centers simultaneously? The death toll would be quite high.
Do the bad guys have smallpox? Of course they do. Anything the Russians or Chinese have, the terrorists have. After all, it was and is Russia and China who continue to support these countries like Syria and Iraq.
Personally, I will take the vaccine if it becomes available and so will my family. I, at least, have partial immunity; my kids don't.
Any freeper out there know what kinds of problems occur with the smallpox vaaccine and how frequent they are? Amazing how the government and CDC carefully omit this most vital of information from their propaganda.
But then that would make sense and benefit our economy rather than Euroworld.
Required reading, IMHO.
On the other hand, we now have anti viral medication, whereas in the 1970's we only had a small amount of anti serum
Poetknowit is right in pointing out that the vaccine, which causes a sore, can spread to others. So even if we don't vaccinate you, you could catch generalized vaccinia from other people. And remember, most people with HIV don't know they have it...
Also, as Poetknowit points out, vaccinia can be spread to people with ecsema. When you have ecsema, you have lots of cracks in the skin. So even if you are not vaccinated, you could catch it by living with or near someone who has an active vaccine sore, if some of the virus got into your skin. Instead of one sore, you might have dozens of vaccinia sores and be very sick.
This is why David, who understandably wants to get the vaccine, is wrong. He might spread it to another person by accident.
I think the decision to forbid vaccine on request is irresponsible. If vaccine were available to me (and it may be available to me soon, as a probable first responder to a smallpox emergency), I would take it, and use the material from the blister fluid to inoculate my family.
The resistance to widespread vaccination by the federales has two important roots:
1) The "eradication" of smallpox is felt by the involved parties to be the leading Public Health triumph of the century just past. The fact that smallpox was "eradicated" in the sense that war was eradicated by the Kellog-Briand treaty in 1928 is lost on these people.
2) The government is deathly afraid of liability for side effects, especially from fatalities among those with undiagnosed immune deficiency diseases.
In any event, there is enough (diluted) vaccine for everyone-the refusal to allow its use is fundamentally political.
"Side effects [of the vaccine]include low-grade fever and axillary lymphadenopathy. The attendant erythema and induration of the vaccination vesicle is frequently misdiagnosed as a bacterial superinfection. More severe first-time vaccine reactions include secondary inoculation of the virus to other sites such as the face, eyelid, or other persons (~6/10,000 vaccinations), and generalized vaccinia, which is a systemic spread of the virus to produce mucocutaneous lesions away from the primary vaccination site (~3/10,000 vaccinations).
Vaccination is contraindicated in the following conditions: immunosupression, HIV infection, history or evidence of eczema, or current household, sexual, or other close physical contact with person(s) possessing one of these conditions. In addition, vaccination should not be performed during pregnancy, Despite these caveats, most authorities state that, with the exception of significant impairment of systemic immunity, there are no absolute contraindications to post-exposure vaccination of a person who experiences bona fide exposure to variola[smallpox]. However, concomitant VIG [smallpox immune globulin] administration is recommended for pregnant and eczematous persons in such circumstances."
Although Aids is a new disease, eczema and pregnancy are not new. And the vaccine was quite safe.
Of course, if the massive stockpiles of smallpox that Russia developed within months of signing the biological warfare treaty include modified strains, then even new vaccine would be useless.
I note from the book that June 30, 2002 is the date when all smallpox is set to be destroyed in the US, thus rendering us impotent in preparing for any new problems with smallpox. Is that why the government is pushing all of this "don't worry" propaganda, so that we won't squeak when our ability to do research on smallpox ends?
Any freepers in the CDC or current military who know whether this is still the case?
If the vaccine is available, I and my family will take it, and I will advise my patients to seriously consider taking it themselves.
Again, I'll take the vaccine and the government should allow its availability so that physicians and patients can make up their own minds. But in the new United Socialist States of America we apparently will not have that freedom.
The focus needs to be on RAPID detection of unusual disease or disease patterns, before the cases spread widely. State and local health departments have been ramping up their surveillance and reaction capabilities, thanks to federal funding ( it's about time our tax dollars went to something important and Constitutional).
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