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Federal Plans being Assembled in Case of Smallpox Outbreak

Aired September 23, 2002 - 10:09   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.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Now a closer look at federal plans being assembled in case of a smallpox outbreak. Deemed unthinkable 20 years ago when the disease was officially eradicated, the threat that terrorists could unleash smallpox has prompted health officials to take extraordinary steps.
CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us with a closer look.

Pretty significant to have this plan in place. Who is believed to have stocks of smallpox?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well hopefully nobody except for the labs that are supposed to have them. For example, the Centers for Disease Control.

The fear, though, is that terrorists could get a hold of some of the stores of smallpox that are in the United States and Russia and use it as a biological weapon. And that is why the Centers for Disease Control has now confirmed that it has sent out plans to state and local health departments to vaccinate the entire population for smallpox in the event of an outbreak of smallpox in the United States. And that's really a crucial part of that in the event of an outbreak of smallpox in the U.S.

They're not going to go back to the days where every child was vaccinated for smallpox. This is just a plan that says if there's an outbreak we would vaccinate everyone. This is different than some proposals that had been around before which was that if there was an outbreak, they would vaccinate those close to the outbreak and then sort of do concentric circles, wider and wider circles around that outbreak. This is just to do mass vaccinations for everyone.

Now you might wonder, well gee, since there's a concern that terrorists could get a hold of smallpox, why not just vaccinate the entire population now? The answer to that is that the smallpox vaccine is very dangerous. If they were to vaccinate the entire U.S. population, between 300 and 350 people would die. That's how dangerous it is.

Now if there was a smallpox outbreak, public health experts would probably say you know what, it's worth it to take that risk because a lot more people are going to die from the smallpox. But that they don't want to take the risk unless there is an outbreak that's already happened. So that is why the CDC is now planning or has sent out plans today that says if there's an outbreak we'll vaccinate everybody. WHITFIELD: So for those of us over the age of 32, we're walking around with our scars...

COHEN: Right.

WHITFIELD: ... on our -- on our shoulders from our smallpox inoculations when we were little, are we better protected than anyone else?

COHEN: You know that's a question that unfortunately they have tried to answer and that no one can absolutely answer. It was first thought that those vaccinations that many of us got when we were children in the '60s or the very early '70s, they stopped doing it in 1971, that those would not protect us in the event of an outbreak. But then there was a study done recently that showed that maybe they would protect us. So that's something that they -- that they just don't know because they certainly obviously don't want to test that to find out.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks a lot.

COHEN: OK, thanks.

WHITFIELD: Elizabeth Cohen, appreciate it.

COHEN: Thanks.

WHITFIELD: Well be sure to visit CNN's continually updated Web site for the latest on the day's news. That address is CNN.com. The AOL keyword is CNN.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




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Aired September 23, 2002 - 10:09   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Now a closer look at federal plans being assembled in case of a smallpox outbreak. Deemed unthinkable 20 years ago when the disease was officially eradicated, the threat that terrorists could unleash smallpox has prompted health officials to take extraordinary steps.
CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us with a closer look.

Pretty significant to have this plan in place. Who is believed to have stocks of smallpox?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well hopefully nobody except for the labs that are supposed to have them. For example, the Centers for Disease Control.

The fear, though, is that terrorists could get a hold of some of the stores of smallpox that are in the United States and Russia and use it as a biological weapon. And that is why the Centers for Disease Control has now confirmed that it has sent out plans to state and local health departments to vaccinate the entire population for smallpox in the event of an outbreak of smallpox in the United States. And that's really a crucial part of that in the event of an outbreak of smallpox in the U.S.

They're not going to go back to the days where every child was vaccinated for smallpox. This is just a plan that says if there's an outbreak we would vaccinate everyone. This is different than some proposals that had been around before which was that if there was an outbreak, they would vaccinate those close to the outbreak and then sort of do concentric circles, wider and wider circles around that outbreak. This is just to do mass vaccinations for everyone.

Now you might wonder, well gee, since there's a concern that terrorists could get a hold of smallpox, why not just vaccinate the entire population now? The answer to that is that the smallpox vaccine is very dangerous. If they were to vaccinate the entire U.S. population, between 300 and 350 people would die. That's how dangerous it is.

Now if there was a smallpox outbreak, public health experts would probably say you know what, it's worth it to take that risk because a lot more people are going to die from the smallpox. But that they don't want to take the risk unless there is an outbreak that's already happened. So that is why the CDC is now planning or has sent out plans today that says if there's an outbreak we'll vaccinate everybody. WHITFIELD: So for those of us over the age of 32, we're walking around with our scars...

COHEN: Right.

WHITFIELD: ... on our -- on our shoulders from our smallpox inoculations when we were little, are we better protected than anyone else?

COHEN: You know that's a question that unfortunately they have tried to answer and that no one can absolutely answer. It was first thought that those vaccinations that many of us got when we were children in the '60s or the very early '70s, they stopped doing it in 1971, that those would not protect us in the event of an outbreak. But then there was a study done recently that showed that maybe they would protect us. So that's something that they -- that they just don't know because they certainly obviously don't want to test that to find out.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks a lot.

COHEN: OK, thanks.

WHITFIELD: Elizabeth Cohen, appreciate it.

COHEN: Thanks.

WHITFIELD: Well be sure to visit CNN's continually updated Web site for the latest on the day's news. That address is CNN.com. The AOL keyword is CNN.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




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