Safety

CDC monitors smallpox vaccine side effects

Emergency Management Alert, February 13, 2003

As smallpox vaccinations increase, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is tracking all civilians who receive the vaccine and whether they develop any side effects as a result, Reuters reports.

A total of 687 nonmilitary health workers received vaccinations as of February 6, with no reports of serious side effects. As of January 31, nearly 4,000 military health workers and tens of thousands of operational forces received vaccinations; of that total, two Army soldiers developed illnesses resulting from their vaccinations, but both have fully recovered.

As part of the CDC's new monitoring system, each person who receives a smallpox vaccine shot is assigned a unique number. Health workers will enter the number into an electronic tracking system to enable public health officials to record who develops side effects from the vaccine.

Officials will collect information from approximately 10,000 vaccine recipients through telephone surveys conducted 10 and 21 days after they receive the vaccine.

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