Safety

U.S. government unveils smallpox compensation plan

Emergency Management Alert, March 13, 2003

The U.S. government on March 6 outlined a plan to encourage health care workers to get smallpox vaccinations by compensating for those disabled or killed by the vaccine, Reuters reports.

The plan is subject to approval by Congress. As of March 4, the government had vaccinated 12,404 health workers against smallpox, a fraction of the 450,000 it originally hoped to immunize by now. Once vaccinated, the workers will be able to immunize up to 8 million colleagues, emergency workers, and police in case of a smallpox attack.

The package proposed by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tommy Thompson is based on a compensation plan currently available to police officers and firefighters. Under that program, administered by the Department of Justice, the government pays $262,100 for death or permanent disability of police officers and firefighters.

The HHS plan would compensate people who contract vaccinia from public health and medical response team workers who received vaccinations.

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