Last Updated

18 Aug 2003

Source: Washington Post, June 7, 2002.

Few Attend N.Y. Forum on Smallpox

By Christine Haughney, Washington Post Staff Writer

NEW YORK, June 6 -- Clutching articles on bioterrorism, Gloria Hall cast a sharp eye over the panel of public health experts sitting before her today and recited her greatest fears about a smallpox attack.

"I'm concerned that we really are discussing best-case scenario," she said after a morning of presentations about how public health officials would respond to an outbreak of the disease. "I'm just frightened for my grandchildren."

Hall was among a handful of city residents who turned up to meet with more than 150 public health officials at Mount Sinai Hospital for the first of four public forums being held around the country by federal officials to discuss how widely vaccine against smallpox should be made available.

A similar hearing was held in San Francisco today. Others are scheduled Saturday in St. Louis and Tuesday in San Antonio.

On June 19-20, federal advisers will meet in Atlanta and recommend whether smallpox vaccine should be made available to the public, and if so, to whom.

Smallpox was eradicated from the globe in 1980 and routine vaccination against the dreaded disease ceased in the United States in 1971. But last fall's anthrax attacks renewed fears that the smallpox virus could be used by bioterrorists, prompting the federal government to stockpile smallpox vaccine to stem an outbreak in the event of an attack. That has prompted debate over whether the vaccine should be made available.

For a city still shaken from the Sept. 11 attacks and subsequent anthrax cases, the turnout for today's hearing was surprisingly slim. Officials from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wrapped up the session two hours earlier than planned after only eight citizens spoke.

Attendees surmised that it is hard to draw a crowd for a disease that hasn't existed since 1980.

"There is no smallpox worldwide," said Joel Ackelsburg, medical director of the emergency response and readiness unit for the New York City Department of Health. "There's more risk from the vaccine than the disease."

Most attendees suggested that the vaccine not be made available to the public because the risk of complications from the vaccine outweighs the danger of an outbreak. But many said vaccinations should be offered to hospital workers who may come into contact with sick patients. Which hospital workers should be vaccinated and in what order remained undecided.

"Under no circumstances would I voluntarily be vaccinated. I don't trust it," said Melissa Ennen, 49, an editor whose multiple sclerosis makes her more vulnerable to complications from the vaccine. "In a city like New York, there would be a lot of people like me."

But many of those attending said they were skeptical of the government's "ring containment" strategy to contain a smallpox outbreak. The strategy would involve identifying people with the infection and vaccinating everyone who had contact with that person.

"This potentially could require the vaccination of hundreds of thousands of people," Ackelsburg said.

Public health workers predicted that a smallpox outbreak would cause many of the problems they faced during Sept. 11 and the anthrax attacks. More than 100 hospitals in New York and New Jersey treated 7,200 victims who arrived by foot, train and ferry from the World Trade Center attacks on Sept. 11. During the anthrax attacks, labs also struggled to handle the large volume of tests.