Expert: 'Not a safe vaccine'Smallpox inoculation still too risky for public, doctor says

Rocky Mountain News ^ | January 6, 2003 | Jim Erickson

[demosthenes the elder]

this is really odd.
I was innoculated against smallpox as an infant - the same as everyone else who bears the quarter-sized scar on their left shoulder.
My mother is a physician. She says the new vaccine is no more dangerous than the old one. She says that anyone who was successfully innoculated in their youth should be able to handle a booster shot at no risk.
What is the big deal about this?

[Sacajaweau]

He treated 23 children and only 2 survived. These children already HAD smallpox.

Statistically, of one million people proposed to be vaccinated, 1 will die.

Correct me if I'm reading this wrong.

Looks like nothing more than anti-Bush rhetoric.

[altayann]

The big deal is that immune systems of infants are generally pretty weak. Since the smallpox is a live virus, you're essentially illness into their bodies.

So your mother is correct, in one sense. Those who were successfully inoculated in their youth can be re-inoculated without trouble.

It's the segment of the population that was literally born yesterday (or within the last year) that's the problem. Add to that that recently innoculated individuals can infect others who haven't recieved the vaccine and it means that you can't vaccinate families with very young children.

I'm surprised your mother didn't point this out to you.

[JeeperFreeper]

Thanks for post.
I agree with Demosthenes the Elder. If the shots are so bad, why did I get one as as kid?
Some question I'd like answered are: 1)what happens if small pox is reintroduced in the U.S., 2)how fast would it spread, 3) how many would die as opposed to deaths and injuries from a preventative inoculation program? I've tried to find out but about all I get are agenda -driven responses.

[demosthenes the elder]

re-read the article more closely. The vaccine against the smallpox virus uses a live-virus culture of a different and far less harmful virus which has a protein coat similar enough to that of the smallpox virus that an immune system exposed to the one can detect and attack the other.

[altayann]

The other problem is that health workers tend to work with a lot of people who have comprimised or weakened immune system. If they were to be innoculated, they could potentially end up anyone in a hospital environment who:

-Had AIDS
-Was undergoing chemotherapy
-had a skin condition
-was born within the last year

[altayann]

I know that. That's the not the problem: the problem is that the vaccine (vaccinia virus) is still a live virus. In someone with a weak immune system, that's going to cause problems.

[Snowy]

Some question I'd like answered are: 1)what happens if small pox is reintroduced in the U.S., 2)how fast would it spread, 3) how many would die as opposed to deaths and injuries from a preventative inoculation program? I've tried to find out but about all I get are agenda -driven responses.

Read the book, "The Demon in the Freezer" by Richard Preston. I'm half way through it. That will tell you what you want to know, and a lot of stuff you would prefer not to know. :(

[woofie]

ping

[Snowy]

I know that. That's the not the problem: the problem is that the vaccine (vaccinia virus) is still a live virus. In someone with a weak immune system, that's going to cause problems.

Then wouldn't the doctor of such a person advise that person not to get the vaccine?

[demosthenes the elder]

and so, for the sake of people so frail that they should have been drowned at birth (slight hyperbole), you support leaving a population of some 280 millions exposed to lethal weaponized bioagents?
There is such a thing as acceptable losses.
One out of one million seems more than fair to me.

[altayann]

I've worked with one of those people you consider so frail that they should have been 'drowned at birth'.

For the record, this person was an officer in the Navy who later in life developed cancer and is currently undergoing chemotherapy. Meaning that their immune system has been weakened.

I would suggest you consider editing your comments.

[KarlInOhio]

One out of one million seems more than fair to me.

The odds of an American being killed by terrorists on 9/11/01 was 1 in 100,000, or ten times the danger of the small pox vaccine.

If our enemies do have smallpox available and our population isn't vaccinated, I expect that the 3000 killed that day will be remembered as just the small attack at the beginning of the war.

[demosthenes the elder]

and I'd suggest learning how to read.
what part of "(slight hyperbole)" did you NOT understand?

[.38sw]

Since the smallpox is a live virus

The small pox vaccine does not use the smallpox virus; it uses vaccinia. It works because the protein signature is similar enough to smallpox that the antibodies produced by your immune system also attack the smallpox virus. You cannot get smallpox from the smallpox vaccine.

[altayann]

The part I didn't understand? The part where you even 'slightly' suggested it in the first place.

[.38sw]

Oh, sorry. I didn't read far enough. I think the point is that someone with a weak immune system shouldn't get the vaccine. Sounds like it may not be a good idea to vaccinate infants.

[altayann]

D'oh ! #@#$#$!!@@. Sorry, I dropped 'vaccine' from the 'smallpox vaccine'.

[Cicero]

Over a considerable period of time this center treated children from all over the world who had adverse reactions. It sounds as if one in a million is probably a high number. And without doubt millions of children were saved from an unpleasant death from smallpox. Working with sick and dying children isn't pleasant, but a doctor should also consider how many others benefited from the vaccine over the years.

As for people who have weak immune systems (notably those with AIDS), they will be much safer in case of a smallpox attack if most of their neighbors have been vaccinated. The more people who have been vaccinated, the less quickly and widely an epidemic would spread.

If someone was living in the same house as an AIDS patient, they might want to take the precaution of keeping them away from each other for a period of time, to prevent any chance of transmitting the virus. But even for the sake of AIDS victims, vaccinating the general population would be beneficial if, as seems likely, smallpox is still in the secret weapons arsenals of Russia, China, the US, and any countries or persons who may have managed to get their hands on it. Iraq is a likely country.