Last Updated

18 Dec 2002

Source: Wall Street Journal, June 6, 2002.

HEALTH

Most Americans Would Receive Smallpox Vaccine Despite Risks

By DANIEL MACHALABA, Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Almost three in five Americans are willing to be vaccinated for smallpox as a precaution against a bioterrorist attack, a new survey indicates.

The responses, from a study by the Harvard School of Public Health, were made even though there hasn't been a case of smallpox in the U.S. in decades and even though the individuals surveyed were told smallpox vaccination could produce serious side effects.

The results indicate that the public remains wary of bioterrorism and wants to be reassured that vaccination is readily available, says Robert J. Blendon, the survey's project director and a professor of health policy and political analysis at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.

Results of the survey, which was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in Princeton, N.J., were based on interviews with 2,000 Americans nationwide.

The results come amid a debate over the nation's smallpox-vaccination policy. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is holding hearings this week on the use of the smallpox vaccine, and federal government advisory committees also are considering the matter. Current policy doesn't recommend mass vaccinations. Rather, it calls for so-called ring vaccination that emphasizes isolation of infected patients and vaccinating their families and contacts.

According to the study, 59% of those surveyed say they would get vaccinated as a precaution against a bioterrorist attack using smallpox if a vaccine were made available to them. A larger percentage, 81%, say they would get vaccinated if cases of smallpox were reported in their own community.

Mr. Blendon said the findings aren't necessarily an endorsement of widespread public prevaccination.

"I think the public wants to be reassured that if there is an attack they can get vaccinated relatively quickly," he said. One public-policy result, he said, could be to have more vaccine available in more places and have emergency workers vaccinated and ready to distribute vaccine to the public.

The survey also indicates that Americans' knowledge about smallpox is mixed. About 85% of respondents indicated they know that smallpox is contagious, and 90% know that if someone has contracted smallpox and has the symptoms they should be kept isolated from uninfected people.

Only 43% of those surveyed know that if a person is exposed to smallpox but doesn't have symptoms, getting vaccinated will prevent that person from coming down with the disease. Only 32% know that once a person develops symptoms of smallpox, there is no cure.