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medpundit |
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Wednesday, March 26, 2003A Maryland nurse recently vaccinated against smallpox died over the weekend of a heart attack, and health officials are trying to determine whether the inoculation contributed to her death, an official familiar with the case said Tuesday. Smallpox vaccine does not cause heart attacks. People who die from the vaccine die from infectious complications, such as encephalitis. What's next? Vaccinated woman dies from auto accident, vaccine being investigated as cause? No, the next is a warning by the CDC that people with heart disease should avoid smallpox vaccination: Federal health officials ordered last night that no one with a history of heart disease be vaccinated against smallpox, after seven health workers with a history of cardiac disease developed severe health problems after being vaccinated. One of the seven vaccine recipients died, and one is on life support. The seven had clearly defined risk factors for heart disease or had heart problems. But heart problems are not known to put people at greater risk of adverse reactions to smallpox vaccine, said Dr. Julie L. Gerberding, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. [emphasis mine] So, why put out this warning? I understand the need from an epidemiology perspective, to collect all data on everyone who had the vaccine to track side effects, but not every event that occurs after the vaccine is caused by the vaccine, and to present it to the media as if that is the case only further undermines efforts at bioterror defense. UPDATE: Chris Rangel says it's like warning people off shopping malls because a few had heart attacks after shopping. posted by Sydney on 3/26/2003 09:56:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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