Vaccination for 1 million in US

[Guest guest]

Vaccination for 1 million in US

From Roland Watson in Washington and Charles Bremner in Paris

 

 

 

A MILLION Americans will be given smallpox vaccinations under the

first wave of a mass inoculation order being prepared by President

Bush.

The initial stage of the decision would see 500,000 military

personnel and 510,000 civilian medical workers receive the jab.

 

A second step would involve up to ten million frontline workers such

as police, the emergency services, and other healthcare staff who

would be the first to respond to a bioterrorism attack.

 

The smallpox vaccine would then be made available to any member of

the public who wanted one, although it would be accompanied with

warnings of the health risks involved and would not be recommended

by the authorities.

 

Mr Bush is expected to publish the details in the next few days

after months of agonising. One to three people in the initial wave

of one million recipients are likely to die from side-effects of the

vaccine, according to estimates by health experts, and dozens of

others will contract life-threatening illnesses.

 

However, Mr Bush has been persuaded that the risks from a

bioterrorism attack on US soil are too dangerous to ignore. If there

were an outbreak of the highly contagious disease, some 30 per cent

of those affected would die and many survivors would be left blind

or disfigured, health experts say.

 

Dick Cheney, the Vice-President, has been the driving force behind

preventive vaccinations. Since the immediate aftermath of the

September 11 attacks, Mr Cheney has frequently voiced fears that the

US was underprepared for a bioterrorism attack.

 

The wrangle within the White House over the decision to reintroduce

vaccinations has been complicated by changing patterns of healthcare

which have increased the danger of harmful side-effects for millions

of Americans.

 

Those being treated for cancer or Aids, or who have had courses of

drugs which have impaired their immune systems, would be ruled out,

even though they would be most at risk of contracting the disease.

 

France is preparing to administer smallpox vaccinations to an

undisclosed number of emergency medical teams, including military

and civilian doctors, nurses, drivers, helicopter pilots and

administrators.

 

The Government has also given orders for the preparation of a

vaccination programme that would immunise the whole population

within two weeks. The Health Ministry said that details of the

vaccination plan, drawn up as a precaution against bioterrorism,

would remain secret.

 

The Canadian Government is planning to vaccinate about 500 frontline

medical workers, doctors, nurses, and laboratory technicians before

the end of the year.

 

The Government is also negotiating with the pharmaceutical firm

Aventis to buy ten million doses of smallpox vaccine, at a cost of

about £16 million, which health authorities believe would be enough

to immunise the entire country.

[Guest guest]

Thanks, Misty.

 

The one in three people dying from the vaccine HAS to be wrong. They only

predict 3/10 of those actually getting the disease dying. I do not know the

exact statistic but would bet that it is more like 3 deaths out of every

million vaccinations or even less.

 

Namaste`

 

Walt

 

-

" Misty L. Trepke " <mistytrepke

 

Wednesday, December 04, 2002 8:55 PM

Vaccination for 1 million in US

 

 

Vaccination for 1 million in US

From Roland Watson in Washington and Charles Bremner in Paris

 

 

 

A MILLION Americans will be given smallpox vaccinations under the

first wave of a mass inoculation order being prepared by President

Bush.

The initial stage of the decision would see 500,000 military

personnel and 510,000 civilian medical workers receive the jab.

 

A second step would involve up to ten million frontline workers such

as police, the emergency services, and other healthcare staff who

would be the first to respond to a bioterrorism attack.

 

The smallpox vaccine would then be made available to any member of

the public who wanted one, although it would be accompanied with

warnings of the health risks involved and would not be recommended

by the authorities.

 

Mr Bush is expected to publish the details in the next few days

after months of agonising. One to three people in the initial wave

of one million recipients are likely to die from side-effects of the

vaccine, according to estimates by health experts, and dozens of

others will contract life-threatening illnesses.

 

However, Mr Bush has been persuaded that the risks from a

bioterrorism attack on US soil are too dangerous to ignore. If there

were an outbreak of the highly contagious disease, some 30 per cent

of those affected would die and many survivors would be left blind

or disfigured, health experts say.

 

Dick Cheney, the Vice-President, has been the driving force behind

preventive vaccinations. Since the immediate aftermath of the

September 11 attacks, Mr Cheney has frequently voiced fears that the

US was underprepared for a bioterrorism attack.

 

The wrangle within the White House over the decision to reintroduce

vaccinations has been complicated by changing patterns of healthcare

which have increased the danger of harmful side-effects for millions

of Americans.

 

Those being treated for cancer or Aids, or who have had courses of

drugs which have impaired their immune systems, would be ruled out,

even though they would be most at risk of contracting the disease.

 

France is preparing to administer smallpox vaccinations to an

undisclosed number of emergency medical teams, including military

and civilian doctors, nurses, drivers, helicopter pilots and

administrators.

 

The Government has also given orders for the preparation of a

vaccination programme that would immunise the whole population

within two weeks. The Health Ministry said that details of the

vaccination plan, drawn up as a precaution against bioterrorism,

would remain secret.

 

The Canadian Government is planning to vaccinate about 500 frontline

medical workers, doctors, nurses, and laboratory technicians before

the end of the year.

 

The Government is also negotiating with the pharmaceutical firm

Aventis to buy ten million doses of smallpox vaccine, at a cost of

about £16 million, which health authorities believe would be enough

to immunise the entire country.