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WHO eyes more smallpox vaccine

Infection Control Monitor, March 11, 2005

The World Health Organization (WHO) requested more smallpox vaccine last week as a precaution against a biological terrorism attack, the Associated Press reports.

WHO already has a 2.5 million dose supply of smallpox vaccines.

"We need stockpiles of vaccines. We need stockpiles of those essential medications," Brad Kay, coordinator of the WHO's division on preparedness for accidental and deliberate epidemics, said during an Interpol conference on bioterrorism.

Smallpox is a fatal disease that some public health experts fear could be used as a biological weapon. The only smallpox vaccine available right now is unsafe for people with weakened immune systems and could seriously harm healthy people.

"We don't know what people are going to cook up," Kay said, "but we know preparedness in recognizing diseases, being able to treat them, and being able to amass public health practitioners are keys to effective control in whatever scenario we're facing."

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