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Saturday, October 05, 2002While federal officials said last week they have developed an emergency plan to vaccinate the entire population against a smallpox attack, Dr. D.A. Henderson, a special adviser to the Department of Health and Human Services, said at least two key decisions have not been made. One is the conditions under which the plan would be put into effect. The current smallpox vaccine causes more reactions than any vaccine available in the United States, Henderson said, explaining why mass vaccinations have not begun. "It's got to be a societal decision," he said. The other is whether the government will assume liability, which could run into billions of dollars, for the deaths or injuries a massive immunization campaign might produce. About 25 years ago, the government assumed liability for mass immunizations against swine flu, but some oppose imposing the burden on the government again. "There's a lot of discussion going on about this in the administration and Congress," said Henderson, a professor of epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University. posted by Sydney on 10/05/2002 09:28:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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