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Smallpox: Panel Warns Against Expanding Immunizations An influential health advisory board yesterday cautioned against expanding the national smallpox immunization campaign to millions of emergency workers, the Washington Post reported (see GSN, June 19). Meeting yesterday in Atlanta, officials from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices — which counsels the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccine issues — said it would be “unwise to expand beyond its current, pre-event smallpox vaccination recommendations.” The move comes as many health officials are saying that the immunization program has effectively stopped well short of U.S. President George W. Bush’s goals, the Post reported. In December, Bush said he wanted 500,000 civilian health care workers immunized by the end of February and another 10 million emergency workers immunized by this summer. Approximately 37,000 civilian health workers have been immunized to date. The committee cited “new and unanticipated safety concerns” in cautioning against expanding the program. During the civilian and military immunization campaigns, an unexpected number of people experienced cardiac difficulties, particularly tissue swelling in and around the heart. The CDC is reviewing the program at the six-month mark, according to Joseph Henderson, the top bioterrorism official there. Henderson said that focusing completely on vaccinations “is not a practical approach right now,” but maintained that the centers are “committed to the president’s decision.” CDC Director Julie Gerberding said U.S. health officials would review the committee recommendation, but it was doubtful that immunizations would stop. “The more people we have vaccinated, the better off we’ll be, and the fact that we have almost 40,000 people vaccinated is, I think, a tremendous step forward compared to where we were just six months ago,” Gerberding said. “So we’ve made enormous progress, but we have more to do,” she added (Ceci Connolly, Washington Post, June 20). The committee said the heart inflammation issue needed further exploration before inoculations can continue. “The committee has believed from the beginning that we need to put safety above and beyond any other issue,” said John Modlin, committee chairman and professor at Dartmouth Medical School. “This will allow us to buy some time, and to perhaps better understand both sides of the equation,” he added (Catherine Shoichet, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, June 20).
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