Wes Vernon, NewsMax.com
Saturday, Nov. 10, 2001

Specter, the maverick Republican from Pennsylvania, said he also believes the government shouldn't stockpile the vaccine – current plans call for a 300-million-vaccination stockpile – but give citizens the right to decide themselves if they want to get the vaccination.

Specter made his comments before a Senate hearing with Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Fauci agreed with Specter's sentiments and said he, too, would want to be vaccinated now rather than wait.

Fauci says there needs to be an "open discussion" of the trade-offs in administering massive vaccinations before or after the disease has actually struck.

Specter is impatient with scientific concerns about the risks involved in pre-emptive vaccines. He says the parents or grandparents should make that decision.

Bonanza for Trial Lawyers

The odds are these. If there were a massive, nationwide vaccination program, estimates are that at least 300 to 600 Americans would die, or 1 to 2 out of every million. And that is a conservative projection.

This does not include the risk of side effects short of death, although these, too, are believed to be minimal. The elderly, babies under 1 year of age and pregnant women are believed to be especially vulnerable.

That sounds like a very small gamble, perhaps about as likely as winning the lottery. But if you lose the lottery, you go on to live your life. Not so if you take your chances with the smallpox vaccine and lose.

The benefit of vaccination, of course, is being immunized against the deadly disease.

Moreover, there are risks of doing nothing until the threat actually strikes.

Smallpox has a 20 percent to 30 percent mortality rate. Short of death, side effects of smallpox include encephalitis and permanent neurological damage.

There is no question that the risk of not doing anything is far greater than the risk of dispensing vaccine to the public.

Current plans call for stockpiling the vaccine until there is an outbreak. Not many health officials are calling for pre-emptive action. As of now, there are only 15 million doses on hand.

Dark Winter

Part of the real fear of a smallpox outbreak is the panic that may ensue.

Smallpox is highly contagious, and a recent government exercise code-named "Dark Winter" found that the outbreak would likely lead to martial law and a breakdown in civil order.

Widespread vaccinations could pull the rug from under the psychological terror involved in a smallpox attack.

Dr. Weeks, a former Air Force colonel and bio-warfare expert, said he believes the U.S. government should not delay and should begin using current stockpiles to vaccinate health workers and citizens.

He said as new stockpiles become available, vaccinations should continue.

Sen. Specter believes that allowing people who are willing to take the small risk necessary to get vaccinated is just "common sense."

While government officials ponder the perceived dilemma of how to deal with a disease believed to be in the hands of terrorist countries such as Iraq, some Americans have considered going to Canada or Mexico to get vaccinated.

They are not willing to wait until this time next year when it is expected that an additional 300 million doses will be available, even assuming massive vaccinations will be administered then.

Since Weeks' comments appeared on NewsMax, some health officials are resisting the idea, although health workers are being vaccinated.

This would lend credence to Weeks’ fear that decision makers are behind the curve on the urgency of action now.

Exclusive: Get Dr. Weeks' Tape 'Bio-Threat' – with new information not available to the public. Dr. Weeks was the first expert to state publicly that the current antibiotic stockpile is inadequate.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Bioterrorism
Health Issues
Homeland/Civil Defense
War on Terrorism

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