A wise response to the Smallpox scare

This morning I was watching CNN when I saw a headline scroll by stating that 22,500 smallpox vaccines have been offered to hospital personnel throughout Pennsylvania. Guess how many have been used? 57.

That’s considerably less than one half of one percent. Not exactly what you would call a “vote of confidence” for the federal campaign to create smallpox response teams.

The “wisdom” of the federal program calls for 450,000 U.S. hospital workers to be inoculated.

The wisdom of the real world is expressed by representatives of most of the hospitals in Pennsylvania who have decided to wait until there is a reported outbreak of smallpox in the U.S. before they begin requiring their employees to risk exposure to the controversial vaccine.

Every now and then real-world wisdom prevails.

To Your Good Health,

Jenny Thompson
Health Sciences Institute