Mesa Legend - ARCHIVES - Vol. 40, Issue 9


Volume 40, Issue 9. Today is .

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Volume 40, Issue 9.
February 4, 2003

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P.R. nightmare or smallpox scare

Racheal Brown, Opinions Editor
Racheal Brown
Opinions Editor

In the late 1970’s smallpox was declared eradicated. Now the threat of bioterrorism has rehashed concerns of a public outbreak.

One confirmed case of smallpox is considered a public health emergency, according to the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Yet there have been several confirmed cases since the September terrorist attacks and still the vaccine is not available to the general public.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has classified Smallpox as a category “A” agent, which indicates that it poses the greatest potential threat for public health. Smallpox is in the same category with anthrax, plague, botulism, tularemia, and hemorrhagic fevers.

As a part of the Smallpox Response Plan and Guidelines there are two vaccination strategies, mass vaccination and ring vaccination.
Mass vaccination is just as it sounds large numbers of people who may have been exposed to smallpox are vaccinated. Likewise, some people who had been exposed were not vaccinated.

Obviously, this strategy was unsuccessful. Ring vaccination involves finding infected people and everyone who had contact with them creating a “ring” of vaccinated people around the persons who were infected. This was the strategy that earned smallpox the status of “globally eradicated.”

The President announced a plan on Protecting Americans: Smallpox Vaccination Program. A volunteer smallpox response team working with DHHS along with state and local governments will provide services to Americans in the event of a smallpox attack.

Though the federal government has not recommended vaccinations for the general public at this time, people in the armed forces have already received these vaccinations before being deployed to the Middle East.

Included in the plan for Protecting Americans under Strengthening Homeland Security, the President stated, “Although there is no reason to believe that smallpox presents an imminent threat, the attacks of September and October 2001 have heightened concern that terrorists may have access to the virus and attempt to use it against the American public.”

Several instances of infected people have already occurred. Should we not be responding to a “public health emergency”? On the other hand, this may be a public relations disaster waiting to happen. What if the government went ahead and made the vaccinations available or mandatory for the public?

Bush has said there is sufficient vaccine for the whole of the country but, the vaccine that is being used is dangerous. Though the smallpox vaccine was successfully used to eradicate the disease in the United States, the vaccine itself has potentially harmful side effects.

Vaccinia is another “pox” related virus which helps the body to develop immunity to smallpox. Because the vaccine is live, unlike many other vaccines, special care must be given to the vaccination site to prevent that virus from spreading to other parts of the individual’s body and those who have contact with the vaccinated person’s clothing, bedding, or any other object that have come in contact with the blister or scab.

Addressing the possibility of a public relations disaster, hypothetically, if the government said, “everyone must be vaccinated,” and if the small amount of fatalities that are expected do occur, then what happens when a year goes by without the need for that vaccination.

How are those deaths justified? What would the media make of it?
How would the government respond?

When considering public media reactions to the “orange alerts” recently issued by various government agencies, one may see an evolving problem. The public does not want to hear about “possible” emergencies, many voice their apathy.
Just as they had planned, we are walking the terrorist’s tight rope.