My husband is a police officer, and I have eczema. Until yesterday those two details of my personal life would have seemed to be completely unrelated. But after reading about plans in the works to protect U.S. citizens from an outbreak of smallpox I’m suddenly aware that my husband’s occupation and my annoying skin condition present a personal dilemma that could become a serious health concern for me and many thousands of others in the upcoming months.
Everybody gets one
Yesterday I came across a recent notice from the Center of Disease Control (CDC) that far exceeds the recommended daily dosage of government acronyms. The DHHS, the ACIP, and the NVAC (that’s the Department of Health and Human Services, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, and the National Vaccine Advisory Committee, respectively) are all hard at work these days trying to figure out how to deal with the possibility of a bioterrorist attack that would unleash a smallpox virus. The DHHS says it currently has a smallpox vaccine prepared for every American. So now a handful of bureaucrats are trying to figure out if, when and how to administer 286 million doses.
Smallpox is a highly contagious disease. If an outbreak occurs, the vaccine could save thousands, maybe millions of lives. But there have been no reported cases of smallpox since 1979 when the World Health Organization announced that smallpox had been “eradicated from the earth.” So the moment a single vaccine is administered, smallpox will be reintroduced to the general population for the first time in more than two decades.
This may seem benign, but the general public appears to be only vaguely aware that if the vaccine is given as a purely preventive measure the potential side effects could be devastating, perhaps even on a global scale. You wouldn’t undergo radiation therapy on the chance that you might get cancer. Why risk lives based only on the possibility of a bioterrorist attack?
Meanwhile, the alphabet soup of government bureaucracy has been boiling with activity. So get out your acronym handbook and your calendar to try and follow along. The CDC has been hosting forums to provide the public with information about smallpox and smallpox vaccine, and to solicit comments on the use of the vaccine in the event of a smallpox outbreak or bioterrorist attack. On June 15, the National Academy of Science will hold a smallpox forum for scientists and experts in the field. The CDC and DHHS have also asked ACIP and NVAC to review the current smallpox vaccine recommendations, and the ACIP-NVAC Smallpox Working Group will provide updated smallpox vaccine recommendations by June 20. Also, on June 19 and 20 ACIP will meet in Atlanta and hear four hours of comments from the public, after which ACIP will vote on recommendations to present to DHHS.
Sometime after that, CDC will make its final recommendations to the White House Administration where the final decision will rest with Tom Ridge, the Director of the Office of Homeland Security, and Tommy Thompson, Secretary of DHHS. One of the plans, which Tom Ridge is reported to favor, calls for the immediate vaccination of first responders.
And this is where a Maryland police officer and his eczematic wife come in.
A first what?
A first responder is anyone who will be called on to assist victims and provide public safety if a smallpox outbreak occurs. Emergency room doctors and nurses, for instance, would be first responders. A broader definition of first responders would include EMS personnel and police officers. So if Governor Ridge mandates that a wide range of first responders should receive the smallpox vaccination, and if that mandate includes police officers, then my household – and many others – will be faced with some hard choices. Contraindications to the smallpox vaccine include pregnancy, cancer, central nervous system disorders, the use of immunosuppressive drugs, and eczema, to name a few. Anyone in these groups who comes into contact with someone who has received a smallpox vaccination risks serious and even fatal side effects. So what’s a pregnant ER doctor to do? Stay home? Should an EMS paramedic avoid his mother who’s in remission from cancer? Should a woman with eczema sleep in her office for a few weeks because her husband is a police officer? These are real concerns. At the very least, lives will be disrupted. At worst, side effects will take their toll and people will suffer.
I want to make it perfectly clear that I’m not saying that the health of millions should be jeopardized to prevent personal inconvenience for people like my husband and me. There are much larger issues in the balance here. For instance, doctors can’t predict with certainty which individuals will have adverse reactions to the vaccine or what those specific reactions might be. So if you work in an emergency room and you’re pregnant but don’t know it, or if you have cancer but don’t know it, a smallpox vaccination – administered only as a precaution – could have dire consequences, including paralysis, brain damage and death.
And what if you don’t want your dose? I was astonished to learn that refusing it may not be an option. Looking toward a worst-case scenario, the CDC has drawn up a model state legislation that would allow public health officials to utilize the National Guard to force vaccination on citizens in states where the governor has declared a state of emergency. This would include forcing vaccinations on people with known contraindications based on the idea that whatever side effects they might suffer would be preferable to certain death.
Easy does it
This is all starting to sound quite alarming, and believe me I don’t want to help spread any panic here. The fact is, there’s no need for panic. What we need right now is clear thinking from Governor Ridge and Secretary Thompson. We need for them to make choices based on well-informed advice from experienced health officials and concerned citizens.
I hope you’ll forward this email to friends and relatives, and I urge you to learn more about smallpox vaccine and then share that information as well. With this e-Alert I’ve just scratched the surface of everything that’s going on. For instance, there are already plans to create federal funds to compensate victims of bioterrorism vaccines because Congress, at the request of drug companies, may agree to accept liability for vaccine injuries and deaths. Much as I enjoy going after the drug companies, that’s an e-Alert topic I hope I’ll never have to address.
For more information I recommend these two sources: the CDC (cdc.gov), and the National Vaccine Information Center (909shot.com), a parent-led organization responsible for the vaccine safety movement. But don’t stop there – please write your federal and state legislators, Attorney General John Ashcroft, DHHS Secretary Tommy Thompson, and Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge and let them know that the public does not want them to dangerously and prematurely rush the prevention of something that may never happen.
This is a volatile situation in uneasy times. The questions are difficult and the answers aren’t easy. But the ultimate decisions should come from a consensus of knowledgeable scientists and citizens, not from bureaucrats and politicians.
To Your Good Health,
Jenny Thompson
Health Sciences Institute
Sources:
“Media Advisory – Smallpox Public Forums” Center for Disease Control
“The Vaccine Reaction” National Vaccine Information Center
Copyright 1997-2002 by Institute of Health Sciences, L.L.C.
