AMERICA has ruled out vaccinating most of its citizens against smallpox. Only the 20,000 or so staff who would have to deal with an outbreak should get the vaccine, say experts who last week reviewed US plans for handling a smallpox attack.
"Right now, the assessment is that the smallpox risk is very low," says Julie Gerberding, acting deputy of the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia. People have a greater risk of a bad reaction to the vaccine than catching smallpox in a bioterrorist attack, she says.
Experts on the CDC's Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices recommend a "softly-softly" approach which would mean vaccinating nurses and the other emergency workers first on the scene of a suspected outbreak. Also vaccinated should be specialist staff at hospitals designated to handle cases in each state. Otherwise, the committee experts urge the CDC to stick to its original plan to contain ...
To continue reading this article, subscribe to receive access to all of newscientist.com, including 20 years of archive content.