Smallpox vaccine: Easing fears on inoculations

A bill offers needed protections for physicians and other health care "first responders" who receive the vaccine.

Editorial. May 12, 2003.

When President Bush announced his smallpox vaccination plan last December, the public expected to hear a collective "Ouch!" as hundreds of thousands of health care workers rolled up sleeves and got pricked in the interest of national security.

Instead, the program began with a whimper. As of early April, just 32,644 people designated as first responders in the event of a bioterrorist attack had received the vaccine -- only about 7% of the 450,000 health care workers that federal officials had hoped would get inoculated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Fortunately, congressional lawmakers have passed legislation they hope will convince more health professionals to join the effort.

Why have so few health care workers volunteered to date? Many, including some physicians, are concerned about the small, but real, risks of injury or death associated with the smallpox shot.

In the past, out of every million people vaccinated for the first time, about 1,000 experienced serious reactions, and between 14 and 52 people experienced potentially life-threatening reactions. The CDC estimates that one or two people out of every million who receive the vaccine might die from it.

The recent fatal heart attacks of at least two health care workers who had just been vaccinated exacerbated fears about the shot even though a direct link was not made.

But on top of the concerns about the vaccine itself are other anxieties. Physicians and other health care workers worry that the medical bills and lost work resulting from a voluntary smallpox vaccination wouldn't be covered by their health or disability insurance.