CDC offers strategy to contain smallpox

Plans to protect the nation from a widespread outbreak are well received by public health officials.

By Susan J. Landers, AMNews staff. Dec. 17, 2001.

Washington -- The federal government is taking a twofold approach to protect the nation from a smallpox outbreak.

On Nov. 26, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a plan calling for carefully targeted smallpox inoculations that would maximize the ability of the 15 million doses of the vaccine now available to halt the spread of the contagious disease.

However, the 15 million doses may be expandable. Early results from ongoing clinical trials indicate that each dose could be divided by five and retain its effectiveness.

Also, on Nov. 28, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson awarded a $428 million contract to a small British biotechnology company to produce enough vaccine to inoculate everyone in the nation by the end of next year.

"Today, we find ourselves preparing for a difficult-to-imagine event, an intentional release of smallpox," said CDC Director Jeffrey P. Koplan, MD, MPH, when unveiling his agency's new response plan. "Although such a release might be unlikely, we must prepare for it so the spread of illness will be minimized."

The CDC's "Interim Smallpox Response Plan and Guidelines" is intended to provide a framework to guide local and state efforts toward developing their own workable plans.

The plan was generally well received by those on the front lines. "The fact that there even is a plan is a plus," said Georges C. Benjamin, MD, Maryland's Secretary of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Dr. Benjamin also stressed the interim nature of the plan. "We recognize that one of the first things we are going to have to change about the plan as the vaccine supply grows is who gets vaccinated." [...]