The United States is rushing into its smallpox vaccination effort, according to an advisory panel created to advise U.S. health officials on the impending immunization program (see GSN, Jan. 15).

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention asked the U.S. Institute of Medicine to form the panel, which has written a draft report of its findings, the New York Times reported today.

“I think it’s saying the decision to vaccinate was essentially a political one, and there are a lot of scientific reservations about it,” a member of the 15-member panel said.  “We were not asked to talk about the policy, but we’re saying there are a lot of reservations and safeguards that need to be put in place,” the panel member added.

The panel — made up mostly of medical school professors — met Dec. 18-20 and will send a final report of their conclusions to the CDC next week, the panel member said.

U.S. President George W. Bush’s plan calls for a two-stage immunization effort, with 500,000 health workers to be inoculated at first and up to 10 million health workers, firefighters, police and emergency personnel to be immunized in the second stage.

The panel’s draft report suggests leaving enough time between the two phases to scrutinize the first phase and learn from it, the Times reported.

Julie Gerberding, director of the CDC, said that states and jurisdictions will conduct immunizations at their own pace, but the overall mandate will be to conduct the vaccinations “the fastest we can do it with the greatest amount of safety.”

The panel also questioned what events — such as adverse reactions — would force the to CDC reconsider its guidelines, the Times reported.  The draft report expressed concern over who would pay compensation for lost wages and medical treatment in the event of adverse reactions.  The federal government will not provide compensation and state worker compensation laws may not be applicable.  The panel recommended that consent forms clearly indicate what compensation is available.

Gerberding said that compensation and consent forms are in the hands of the states, although the CDC would provide some direction.

“We have enormous respect for the IOM.  The credibility of their input is always taken very seriously by CDC, and we look forward to seeing their final report.  That’s why we wanted to take this issue to the IOM,” Gerberding said.

The draft report also recommended that the safety board in charge of watching the vaccinations be separate from the government, the Times reported.

The draft report suggested that health officials disseminate information on the immunizations through one, nonpolitical, voice, the Times reported.

“In reality, there are a lot of people who are going to be involved in providing messages about events related to terrorism,” Gerberding said (Denise Grady, New York Times, Jan. 16).

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