March
19, 2003
(Little
Rock) -- As of March 14, just over three weeks into the smallpox
vaccination effort, 614 Arkansans have received vaccinations:
210 Health Department responders and 404 hospital responders.
No adverse events as a result of vaccination have been
reported in Arkansas.
The Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report as March 7
that 16,919 hospital and public health responders have been
vaccinated against the virus in the United States. Reports
from the military indicate that over 100,000 soldiers and
medical personnel have been vaccinated.
No
serious adverse events have been reported in Arkansas to date.
According to the CDC, "no potentially life-threatening
adverse events ... have been reported as of March 10"
nationwide. Nationally,
eight serious adverse events have been reported: two eye
infections acquired from contact with recently vaccinated military
recruits who did not maintain appropriate precautions
regarding site care, two cases of encephalitis, one
generalized vaccinia, one case of myocarditis (inflammation of
the heart), one headache lasting 6 days, and a case of
hypertension. (Hypertension
is generally thought among experts to be unrelated to
vaccination but is mentioned because onset occurred temporally
related to vaccination.) In all
cases, the patients have recovered completely.
The low
number of adverse reactions to the vaccination is likely
attributable to aggressive efforts regarding care of the
vaccination site and aggressive efforts in screening out
persons at higher risk of problems. These data show
emphatically that with proper site care, transmission to
household members or work place clients is minimal if not
non-existent.
Developments
Related to Smallpox Vaccination Efforts
In other
vaccination-related news, federal legislation proposed by the
Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Secretary Tommy
Thompson addresses liability and compensation issues
identified by participating facilities. It is believed that
this legislation will allow some hospitals that originally
declined participation in the vaccination effort the
opportunity to reconsider the role they could play in
pre-event preparedness for the nation.
Based on
this information, Arkansas Department of Health Director Fay
Boozman and Governor Mike Huckabee are asking reconsideration
of vaccination for individuals in roles to better prepare us
to respond to a smallpox case. These roles include public
health response teams, hospital response teams, medical
consultants and post-event vaccinators and clinic staff.
The
priority placed on this re-emphasis by the Governor and Dr.
Boozman is based on a recent State Health Officers conference
call with DHHS Secretary Tommy Thompson and CDC Director Julie
Gerberding. The call urged states to take steps to increase
preparedness in the event of a smallpox case.
“The
smallpox vaccination program is more than a Public Health
issue; it is a national security issue. It serves the dual
purpose of being prepared to respond if smallpox occurs and
perhaps could forestall or even prevent a terrorist attack
using the smallpox virus,” Donnie Smith, ADH Bioterrorism
Preparedness Team leader, said.
Additional
information about the smallpox vaccination effort in Arkansas
can be viewed at the Arkansas Department of Health website at http://www.healthyarkansas.com/services/bioterrorism_smallpox.htm.
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