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medpundit |
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Saturday, July 06, 2002The federal government will soon vaccinate roughly a half-million health care and emergency workers against smallpox as a precaution against a bioterrorist attack, federal officials said. The government is also laying the groundwork to carry out mass vaccinations of the public — a policy abandoned 30 years ago — if there is a large outbreak. This is a much more reasonable approach than the ring-vaccination and "first responder" approach that the CDC recommended last month. It will avoid the potential risks of mass vaccination unless absolutely necessary in the event of an attack, and it will give us as a society the chance to get used to the riskier vaccine. If a half million people are vaccinated with few collateral complications in the unvaccinated, then mass vaccination, even without a smallpox attack would be more widely accepted, and justified. And, by expanding the use of the vaccine in the event of an attack beyond ring vaccination to mass vaccination, more lives would be saved. The Bush Administration should be applauded for handling the issue sensibly and reaching out beyond the CDC for consultants on the issue. posted by Sydney on 7/06/2002 08:52:00 PM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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