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American Morning

U.S. Discovers 70 Million Additional Doses of Smallpox Vaccine

Aired March 29, 2002 - 09:36   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson is expected to announce details about the discovery of more than 70 million doses of smallpox vaccine at the American headquarters of a French pharmaceutical company, but there is a lot of controversy about using it.

Here's CNN's medical correspondent Rhonda Rowland.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RHONDA ROWLAND, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In early November, in this small room at St. Louis University, America began to confront its biggest security nightmare: the unlikely but terrifying possibility of smallpox attack. Healthy volunteers agreed to be inoculated with the country's old stock of smallpox vaccine.

DR. SHARON FREY, ST. LOUIS UNIVERSITY: I'm one who had hoped and didn't expect to have to dust off the vaccine vials.

ROWLAND: Only 15 million doses existed, we were told, not nearly enough to protect the nation, unless the vaccine could somehow be stretched. So, scientists diluted it to as little as one-tenth of its normal strength and began inoculating.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are going to dip this in the vaccine.

ROWLAND: After following the volunteers, nearly 700 of them, and watching for the telltale skin lesion to develop, researchers got the good news.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: What we did find was that, in fact, the dilutional studies were successful.

ROWLAND: That means these 15 million doses could now be diluted to cover 150 million Americans, about half the U.S. population.

But what about the other half? Coincidentally, government sources now say a long-forgotten supply of at least 70 million vaccine doses made in the 1950s was recently discovered in a pharmaceutical company's freezer, which means there may be enough vaccine to inoculate every single American, raising the question: Should we all get vaccinated?

FAUCI: People will be questioning, say, "Gee, now that you have enough vaccine, why aren't you vaccinating everyone just in case?"

ROWLAND (on camera): Right now, if you wanted to get the smallpox vaccine, you can't get it. The responsibility for determining who should get it and when rests with the CDC here in Atlanta.

The agency currently recommends ring vaccination -- that is, identifying and quarantining those exposed to the virus and vaccinating their contacts.

(voice-over): That approach, which was very effective in eradicating smallpox, is now being called into question by some health experts, who say, if used in a terrorist attack, millions could die since the outbreak could outrun the vaccinators.

The downside for voluntary vaccinations is, about 200 people could die from the vaccine itself.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROWLAND: A lingering question for those of us over age 32 who were vaccinated as children is whether or not we're still protected, or if we would need to be revaccinated.

And Anderson, a study is expected to begin on Monday at St. Louis University to answer that very important question.

COOPER: Well Rhonda, I just want to go back for a moment to these vaccines that were found. They belong to a French pharmaceutical company. Is it a done deal that they're going to be given over to the United States?

ROWLAND: Anderson, no, it's not a done deal yet.

What we understand is health officials with the U.S. government are negotiating with Aventis. And there are a couple of issues; first of all, with the U.S. government, they want to know if this vaccine is safe, if it still works. At least, so far, in the test tube it appears to work. And also whether or not it can be diluted, just like the Wyeth-Ayerst stockpile that we have.

As far as Aventis, their concern is indemnity. That is,if they sell the stockpile to the U.S. government and, say, something goes wrong -- if somebody gets very ill from the vaccine, if there are deaths, if they would be held responsible.

So we're waiting for this deal to be finalized.

COOPER: And what are the cons of voluntary vaccinations? I mean, as you said in your report, some people could die -- how many, and how many people would get sick?

ROWLAND: Well, the cons definitely are just as you said, that there are some people who could die.

Back in 1968, the last year for which we have records on immunizations in United States, 14 million people were vaccinated, there were nine deaths. And then in addition to that, there are some side effects. With this latest study that was just conducted, about one-third of these healthy volunteers got sick enough where they had to stay away from work or school for a few days.

So those are some of the serious issues that people would need to think about when considering if we should have voluntary vaccinations.

COOPER: Yes, one-third is certainly a lot of people.

Thanks very much Rhonda Rowland, appreciate your report.

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