AAP SUPPORTS 'RING VACCINATION' IN CASE OF SMALLPOX OUTBREAK (LIBERAL BIAS BARF WARNING)

American Academy of Pediatrics ^ | 10-6-02 | AAP

[bonesmccoy]

Below is a news release on a policy statement published in the October issue of Pediatrics, the peer-reviewed, scientific journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) or Pediatrics electronic pages, the Internet extension of Pediatrics.

For Release: October 7, 2002, 12:01 am (ET)

CHICAGO - The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) in a new policy statement recommends ring vaccination for smallpox, also called surveillance and containment. Ring vaccination controls an outbreak by vaccinating and monitoring a ring of people around each infected individual. The idea is to form a buffer of immune people to prevent the spread of the disease in the event of an outbreak.

The AAP recommended the ring strategy rather than universal or voluntary immunization, citing potentially serious health risks from the vaccine weighed against the possibility, currently thought to be unlikely, that a smallpox attack could occur. The new policy stresses that a major reason not to initiate universal immunization in the absence of actual cases of smallpox - besides the limited availability of vaccine - is the risk of serious complications from immunizations.

According to Robert S. Baltimore, M.D., FAAP, member of the AAP Committee on Infectious Diseases (COID) and a lead author of the AAP policy, "The policy is flexible and could change if there is an actual outbreak of smallpox or if a safer vaccine becomes available." The AAP also is pushing for the vaccine to be tested on children before any immunizations are done.

The AAP understands that use of the ring vaccination strategy does not preclude either universal or voluntary vaccination if smallpox is introduced as a bioterrorist agent or if the likelihood of an attack is felt to be higher than currently believed. A critical part of building up the vaccine stockpile is to distribute vaccine around the country in such a way that it could be quickly - within 24 hours - distributed to every community.

One of the AAP's greatest concerns is that the general public is uninformed about the dangers of the vaccine, Dr. Baltimore said. "Many pediatricians are getting questions about it, and we want to arm them with information."

Common side effects from the smallpox vaccine include fever, weakness and lymph gland swelling or tenderness occurring about a week after immunization. Studies from the 1960s show approximately 1,200 people per 1 million immunized will suffer serious complications. Data from 1968 show at least 40 people per million immunized developed potentially life-threatening complications. Multiply those rates by 280 million Americans and "those reactions would end up being very high numbers," Dr. Baltimore said.

The AAP urges that the public should be educated about the possible serious adverse effects of smallpox immunization, especially for children, because surveillance studies demonstrate that they have a higher incidence of adverse effects.

[bonesmccoy]

He didn't respond to you because he knows the only other alternative (if we were actually attacked) is death.