|
COPYRIGHT 2003 International Medical News Group
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration's effort to vaccinate health care providers for smallpox as a way of preparing for a potential outbreak was criticized recently by several local health officials, some of whom questioned the credibility of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"I've never seen a larger disconnect between scientific expertise, experience in the field, and policy and planning," Dr. Franklyn Judson, director of Denver Public Health, said at a meeting of the Institute of Medicine's Committee on Smallpox Vaccination Program Implementation. "The more people know about smallpox and the smallpox vaccine, the less likely they are to buy into a universal immunization scheme," he said in a panel presentation.
In preparation for a potential terrorist attack involving the spread of the smallpox virus, the CDC developed a two-part immunization plan. The agency's target for the first 30 days, which began on Jan. 24, was to vaccinate 500,000 health workers. But at press time, only 35,000 people had been vaccinated.
One problem with the plan was the conflicting directions from the CDC, several health officials said. "Smallpox is a different animal because we heard so many different things about it," said Karen Nikolai, program supervisor for immunization services at the Hennepin County (Minn.) Community Health Department. "If I could ask one thing from the CDC, it's having a consistent message," she said.
"The information we did have was not always accurate and it was disseminated in a haphazard way," agreed Dr. Ron Anderson, president and CEO of Parkland Health & Hospital System in Dallas. "We didn't...
Read the full article for free courtesy of your local library.
|
Bookmark this article
Print this article
Link to this article
Email this article
Digg It!
Add to del.icio.us
RSS
