• E-mail
• Print
• RSS

Three states halt smallpox vaccinations after deaths

Emergency Management Alert, April 2, 2003

Three states last week temporarily suspended their smallpox vaccination programs because of questions about the safety of the vaccine for people at risk of heart problems, the Associated Press reports.

As of March 29, 17 recipients of the vaccine suffered heart problems afterward, including three people who died. Two were health care workers in private hospitals, while the third was a National Guardsman. As a result, federal advisers on March 28 said those at risk for heart trouble should avoid the vaccine.

The deaths caused New York, Illinois, and California to halt their vaccination programs. All three heart attack victims had risk factors for heart disease. The 55-year-old Guardsman, who died March 26, smoked and had high cholesterol, and an autopsy showed he had heart disease.

If it adopts the recommendation of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates it would exclude about 6% of health care workers and 10% of the general public.

After two months, only about 25,000 health care workers have received vaccinations, far shy of the government's goal of 450,000. The military's mandatory immunization program has vaccinated 350,000 people.

• E-mail to a Colleague
• Print
• RSS
• Archive