Israel to Decide on Mass Smallpox Inoculation

Reuters ^ | December 23rd, 2002 | Matt Spetalnick

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Israel to Decide on Mass Smallpox Inoculation
Mon December 23, 2002 08:29 AM ET

By Matt Spetalnick

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel will decide in the coming weeks whether to inoculate millions of its citizens against smallpox as it steps up preparations for a possible U.S. war against Iraq, Israeli officials said on Monday.

Israel fears Iraqi President Saddam Hussein would respond to any U.S. military strike by launching missiles armed not only with conventional but also with biological or chemical warheads against the Jewish state.

"I have to say there is a danger (of an Iraqi attack), you can't evade that," Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said as he toured a military base in central Israel. "But we have taken all the means to prevent it."

Spurred by fears that Baghdad may have developed smallpox as a weapon, Israel's Health Ministry has already inoculated 15,000 emergency workers and has stockpiled enough vaccine to immunize the country's population of more than six million.

Ido Hadari, an adviser to the Health Ministry, said the ministry was now considering whether the immunization program should be expanded to the general population on a voluntary basis.

"We are considering the matter more intensely now. We know it would be a good time to decide since it will take us a few weeks to inoculate 2.2 million people," he said.

Hadari said that number would be the first group targeted as they had received vaccinations so long ago they were probably no longer protected. But he added in the event that a biological attack caused a smallpox outbreak, the entire population could be inoculated in a matter of days.

Hadari said meetings to consider whether to carry out mass inoculations could be held sometime in the next two weeks.

CABINET TO MAKE FINAL DECISION

An Israeli government source said it would be up to the government to make the final decision and that a go-ahead would be given only "if there is a clear and present danger of a biological attack."

Iraq has denied it possesses or is developing weapons of mass destruction, but U.S. officials have expressed strong doubts about Iraq's arms declaration to the United Nations two weeks ago.

Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said on Sunday that Israel, a target for Iraqi missiles during the 1991 Gulf War, was "more prepared than ever for an Iraqi attack" and would be forewarned by the United States of any impending U.S. strike.

But public fears were on the rise after Israeli media reported on Sunday that Israel would go on high alert from January 15 in anticipation that hostilities would erupt in the Gulf sometime between January 27 and February 26.

Israeli newspapers on Monday were filled with articles on preparations for a possible Iraqi missile strike, including details on what citizens should do to survive chemical attack.

Israel has scheduled joint exercises with U.S. forces and gas-mask lessons for schoolchildren.

The prospect of war in the Gulf has added to tension in the region at a time when Israel is combating a two-year-old Palestinian uprising for independence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

In the latest violence, Israeli troops shot dead two Hamas militants in an ambush near the West Bank town of Jenin on Monday, Palestinian witnesses said.

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