U.S. President George W. Bush will ask Congress to tackle the issue of compensating U.S. citizens sickened or killed by the smallpox vaccine, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, Oct. 18).

Congress is out of session until after the Nov. 5 elections.

The Bush administration says it will not offer the vaccine until this issue is resolved, and two options are being discussed.

In one scenario Congress would not allow lawsuits stemming from the vaccine and would establish a government fund to compensate those killed or injured by their inoculation.  The administration is also considering placing those administering the vaccine under the protection of the Federal Tort Claims Act, protecting them from lawsuits.

“A number of health care workers and volunteers would simply not be willing to give the vaccine without some sort of liability protection,” said Senator Bill Frist (R-Tenn.).

Using the tort act to protect workers does not protect hospitals or health care facilities, Frist said.

The vaccine is also awaiting licensing and the formulation of a national inoculation plan (Laura Meckler, Associated Press/Yahoo.com Oct. 24).

Germany Orders Vaccine

Meanwhile, Germany has ordered 11 million doses of smallpox vaccine from Danish drug company Bavarian Nordic, Reuters reported.  The new vaccine, set to be delivered early next year, will increase the German stockpile to 35 million doses, according to German Health Ministry spokeswoman Annelies Ilona Klug.

Klug would not confirm reports that Germany eventually planned to have enough vaccine for the entire population of 83 million, but she did say there was no plan to inoculate anyone before an attack (Ned Stafford, Reuters/Medscape.com, Oct. 23).

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