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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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Posted on 01/18/2003 9:20:20 AM PST by buffyt
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration should tell health workers being offered the smallpox vaccine that it carries real risks and they are likely to receive only minimal compensation if they are injured, scientific experts said today.
"The committee suggests explicitly stating that the benefit of the vaccination program is to increase the nation's public health preparedness, but that the benefit of vaccination to any one individual might be very low," the panel reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The panel, convened by the Institute of Medicine, also urged the White House to analyze the first round of inoculations -- set to begin next week -- before offering the vaccine to millions of other health care workers and emergency responders.
The last case of smallpox in the United States was more than 50 years ago. Routine vaccinations here ceased in 1972, but experts fear the disease could return in an act of bioterror.
Still, the risk of such an attack is unknown, the Institute of Medicine noted, while the risks of the vaccine are well documented. Based on historical information, as many as 40 people out of every million being vaccinated for the first time will face life-threatening reactions, and one or two will die.
President Bush's plan calls for quickly vaccinating nearly a half million people working in hospital emergency rooms and on special smallpox response teams. The panel emphasized that information about risks and benefits must be clearly communicated to them.
The experts also recommended that people be told that they may not receive any compensation if they are injured by the vaccine.
Congress acted to protect people and institutions delivering the vaccine from most lawsuits that could be filed by those injured by the inoculation, leaving such patients with little recourse. Under the policy, injured people may have access to state workers' compensation programs, but those programs are not likely to cover all medical expenses and time lost from work.
An existing compensation fund helps people injured by other vaccines, but it does not cover smallpox. So far, the administration has not proposed any similar fund for smallpox.
The panel advised the Bush administration to look for "bold and creative" solutions to provide compensation to people who are injured.
Without a way to reimburse people for their lost work time and medical expenses, the panel said, "some, perhaps many" people may decline to get vaccinated, thus "undermining the effectiveness" of the program.
The report also recommends that federal officials move slowly from the program's first phase, set to begin next week. In the second phase, the vaccine would be offered to some 10 million people, including other health care workers and emergency responders such as police and firefighters.
Today's report recommended that the CDC evaluate the rate of serious reactions, the effectiveness of its educational material and the variation in vaccination policies from round one before moving to the second group of vaccines.
The CDC also should name a "single voice" to communicate with the public -- someone with a strong scientific background and widely recognized credibility, the panel said.
"To safeguard the separation between political and public health communications, the key spokesperson should not be a politician," the report said.
During the 2001 anthrax attacks, the administration was roundly criticized for inaccurate information given by politicians, particularly in the early days of the crisis.
Today's report comes a day after a pair of large health care unions argued that a delay in the program is needed to address many of the same issues spotlighted by the Institute of Medicine. The White House responded Thursday that the program would move forward as planned.
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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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Big deal. More people die from being hit by lightning.
It caused no significant hardships and no one complained.
Just how wussie are Americans today?
So9
yuppers. And to answer your question- VERY wussified
How about the benefit to an individual being that they probably will not die a very painfull and quick death if they are exposed to small pox. I consider this benefit to be something more than very low.
I have been in that spot with my son, but look at the odds.
There are predicted to be a few thousand bad reactions, and perhaps 500 deaths out of a population of 300 million, an infinitessimal percentage.
A smallpox epidemic might kill 50 million and scar for life 100 million in the United States.
Starting vaccination after an epidemic starts would probably prevent most of that, but not all.
Even if an outbreak only kills a couple of million, your family is far more likely to be destroyed by Smallpox than by any vaccine.
So9
Lots of guys who had eczema, or other skin disorders, received the shot (not really a shot, they dip a little fork that looks like a shrimp fork in this green goop and jab you about 15 times). Nobody died.
Think about it. The percentage of people with eczema in the population of guys (and gals) who went through boot camp was not zero. They all got the innoculation. Nobody died. Fact is, more of us got sick from other kinds of shots, but not that one.
So...don't take the media scare stories too seriously. I would think that someone who had a seriously compromised immune system would be in danger...but otherwise, the past statistics of people who were innoculated do not bear out your concerns.
I think you are right, I knew a gazillion people who had the smallpox vaccine and never ever heard of anyone getting sick or dying of it. I didn't have the vaccine for some reason. I was born in 1951. It wasn't required at my school, it was voluntary. I never travelled outside the USA back then, and never had the vaccine. But no one in my hometown died of the vaccine or got sick from it and thousands of people had the vaccine.
We lost a cousin to the DPT vaccine. He was fine, perfectly normal baby, till he had that shot. He went into seizures, and lived in a retarded (physically and mentally) for a few years, then died. I know it is rare, but it happens. He was one of the unlucky few. It was devestating on his family.
But all your buddies in boot camp were getting revaccinated. The side effects are much more likely with previously unvaccinated people.
Nonsense. We all had eczema when we were innoculated, and aside from a fatal scab the size of a pencil eraser, nobody died.
Hi. How do you figure it'd spread to that proportion? From all the literature, smallpox is less contagious than measles or chickenpox. Supposedly, you've got to get within six feet of an infected person for a prolonged period of time in order to catch it. They say that people are only contagious after they develop the rash, and by that time, they're already sick in bed with a fever.
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