HEALTHChallenges lie in details of smallpox planHealth professionals are being asked to step up to be vaccinated, but physicians and other experts worry about putting immune-compromised patients at risk.By Victoria Stagg Elliott, AMNews staff. Jan. 6, 2003. Military personnel and embassy staff in high-risk areas will get it. President George W. Bush will, too. But his family members won't. And emergency physicians, other doctors and health care workers will be offered it as a precaution in the event they are part of volunteer response teams in the aftermath of an attack. It is the smallpox vaccine, and the specifics of who should get it and when are part of President Bush's smallpox response plan unveiled in December 2002. But the details of how the approach will be implemented are raising concerns within the physician community over persistent questions of logistics, safety and liability. For now, though, the president's marching orders are clear: "Our government has no information that a smallpox attack is imminent," he said. "Yet it is prudent to prepare for the possibility that terrorists ... who kill indiscriminately would use diseases as a weapon." During the past year, public health agencies have been planning for this type of attack, stockpiling enough vaccine to immunize every person in the United States, drawing up response models and training several thousand clinicians to administer the vaccine to those most likely to be on the front lines. The public is expected to be offered the vaccine next year. For many public health officials, the vaccination question is the most unusual health issue they've ever faced. "This is not a very easy decision," said Jonathan B. Weisbuch, MD, representing the American Assn. of Public Health Physicians at the AMA Interim Meeting in New Orleans in December 2002. "We're being asked to do harm to people in [light] of unknown risk out there." [...]Full text of AMNews content is available to AMA members and paid subscribers.
Copyright 2003 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.
|
AMA meeting special section
See comprehensive House of Delegates coverage. Meeting coverage | Slide show | PDF Feature articlesWhat's in a number? Cost variance figure drives policy and courts controversy Breaking through barriers Incoming AMA president ready to tackle tough issues Twitter What's the use? Physicians tell how they use the microblogging tool
Follow us on Twitter
Comprehensive coverage
Most-viewedJuly 6 issueHouse health reform bill first to tackle Medicare physician pay Hospital system tries letting patients read physicians' notes Columns and series
From the vault: 5 years agoAMA studies liability surcharges July 5, 2004We're hiringClinical topics reporter
|