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Former U.S. Health Official Criticizes Top CDC Official for Undermining Smallpox Vaccine Program By David McGlinchey WASHINGTON — Julie Gerberding, the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is undermining the national smallpox immunization program by playing down its importance, according to a public health expert who recently left a senior post at the Health and Human Services Department (see GSN, Nov. 18). “She is distancing herself from the program to try to protect herself,” said Jerome Hauer, who until November was the acting assistant secretary for public health emergency preparedness at HHS. Hauer made his comments in an interview yesterday at George Washington University, where he is now the director of the Response to Emergencies and Disasters Institute. “It’s unfortunate that Julie has chosen to distance herself. … This is a program that needs to continue, CDC needs to push and get more people vaccinated,” he said. Gerberding is currently traveling in Africa with a delegation led by Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson and she was unavailable for comment. Tom Skinner, a spokesman for the CDC director, said that she is firmly behind the immunization program. “As head of the CDC, Dr. Gerberding has repeatedly stated her strong support for the smallpox vaccination program,” Skinner said. In an effort to protect the nation against possible bioterrorism, U.S. President George W. Bush launched the smallpox immunization effort last December and health officials hoped to immunize hundreds of thousands — if not millions — of emergency workers in 2003. To date, however, fewer than 40,000 civilian health care workers have volunteered to receive the vaccine. In comments last month, Gerberding said that the United States was building broad defenses against bioterrorism but had not launched an immunization program. The United States “didn’t actually have a vaccination program, we had a comprehensive smallpox preparedness program,” Gerberding said in a Nov. 14 speech. She said that within the preparedness program, there needed to be “some pre-event vaccination of the people who would be most necessary to investigate smallpox cases and treat the initial cases.” Some critics have said that Gerberding’s comments, and similar ones from other CDC officials, are intended to minimize the public relations fallout from what is commonly viewed as a failed program. CDC spokesman Skinner said that critics have misinterpreted Gerberding’s comments. “She has also stated repeatedly that the vaccination program is but one part of a larger smallpox prevention and preparedness program. If some have taken these comments out of context and think she is wavering in her support of the vaccination program then that is unfortunate because nothing could be further from the truth,” he said. Hauer said that Gerberding’s most recent comments were typical of her efforts to play down the immunization program. “I think her comments are nonsense. … She was involved in the program, she led the program. To say now that there was no program, one has to wonder what planet she has been on,” Hauer said. He agreed with Gerberding that the United States needs a multifaceted defense against smallpox, but he described the immunization program as paramount. “Vaccination is only one part of our preparation, but it is fundamental,” he said. Hauer said the threat of a smallpox attack remains, and that he is concerned by “the feeling of complacency the further we get away from Sept. 11” (see GSN, June 23). Spokesmen from the CDC and the Homeland Security Department have said that the United States has vaccinated enough health care workers to respond to a smallpox attack (see GSN, Oct. 28). Hauer disagreed. “The president announced a program. The president also wanted to ensure we could cope with an outbreak, he made that clear at a number of meetings,” Hauer said, adding that “38,000 or 39,000 [vaccinated medical personnel] is not enough.”
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