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CNN Live Today
Smallpox Vaccine Controversial
Aired December 05, 2002 - 10:17 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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: With the decision due soon from the White House on smallpox vaccinations, there's some uncertainty and controversy as well over a national vaccination plan. Many people under the age of 30 have not been vaccinated since that disease was wiped out more than 20 years ago, but the threat of biological warfare is raising some serious new concerns about smallpox as CNN Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: When Nicole Zimmer was born, smallpox had been eradicated from the world, so she didn't need to be protected. But now in a world threatened with bioterrorism, she felt very vulnerable.
NICOLE ZIMMER, SMALLPOX TRIAL PARTICIPANT: I was very fearful that everything that I had heard about it would actually come true, and one day I would wake up and hear that there had been bioterrorism and release of smallpox.
GUPTA: So, she got the vaccine by joining a clinical trial at St. Louis University. Now, the president is deciding who else in America should get it too.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: It is not only a public health decision, but it is also a decision of national security.
GUPTA: Routine vaccinations were stopped in the United States in 1972 because the risk of the disease was less than the danger posed by the vaccine itself. Today, those dangers still stand.
FAUCI: But if you are going to allow people, even voluntarily, to get vaccinated, it's important that they truly understand, as best as you possibly can communicate to them, that there are risks associated with the vaccine.
GUPTA: In fact, in certain people, the vaccine can actually make them sick.
DR. D.A. HENDERSON, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: The persons most at risk are those who have a serious skin condition of eczema, people who are being treated for cancer, people who are getting organ transplantation, people who have a severe HIV disease.
GUPTA: That's because their immune system is more susceptible to the live virus in the vaccine, so much so that they could even be at risk from someone recently vaccinated, and some of those vaccinated will die. HENDERSON: We would estimate maybe two to four deaths per million might be more likely today, not just one per million.
GUPTA: Two in a million doesn't sound like a lot, unless, of course, you're one of those two. To vaccinate or not to vaccinate, it may be one of the toughest health care decisions we have faced as a nation.
Nicole Zimmer has already decided, and now the Bush administration is preparing to educate everyone about the risks and benefits of the sometimes dangerous vaccine, so that we may all decide.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: Again, one to two in a million may not sound like a lot, unless you are one of those one to two in a million. Some other numbers, Leon, as well to mention. Besides just dying, there are some serious side effects. About 15 in a million people will probably have serious, maybe even life-threatening side effects from this vaccine. About 60 will have other side effects, and they say about a third of people will probably either miss a day of work, or at least a partial day of work if they were vaccinated -- Leon.
HARRIS: Boy, add that up, then there is a cost that we may not have been considering all along then.
GUPTA: That's right. That's right.
HARRIS: Thanks, Sanjay. As a matter of fact, you are going to be coming back in just a bit.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 5, 2002 - 10:17 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: With the decision due soon from the White House on smallpox vaccinations, there's some uncertainty and controversy as well over a national vaccination plan. Many people under the age of 30 have not been vaccinated since that disease was wiped out more than 20 years ago, but the threat of biological warfare is raising some serious new concerns about smallpox as CNN Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: When Nicole Zimmer was born, smallpox had been eradicated from the world, so she didn't need to be protected. But now in a world threatened with bioterrorism, she felt very vulnerable.
NICOLE ZIMMER, SMALLPOX TRIAL PARTICIPANT: I was very fearful that everything that I had heard about it would actually come true, and one day I would wake up and hear that there had been bioterrorism and release of smallpox.
GUPTA: So, she got the vaccine by joining a clinical trial at St. Louis University. Now, the president is deciding who else in America should get it too.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: It is not only a public health decision, but it is also a decision of national security.
GUPTA: Routine vaccinations were stopped in the United States in 1972 because the risk of the disease was less than the danger posed by the vaccine itself. Today, those dangers still stand.
FAUCI: But if you are going to allow people, even voluntarily, to get vaccinated, it's important that they truly understand, as best as you possibly can communicate to them, that there are risks associated with the vaccine.
GUPTA: In fact, in certain people, the vaccine can actually make them sick.
DR. D.A. HENDERSON, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: The persons most at risk are those who have a serious skin condition of eczema, people who are being treated for cancer, people who are getting organ transplantation, people who have a severe HIV disease.
GUPTA: That's because their immune system is more susceptible to the live virus in the vaccine, so much so that they could even be at risk from someone recently vaccinated, and some of those vaccinated will die. HENDERSON: We would estimate maybe two to four deaths per million might be more likely today, not just one per million.
GUPTA: Two in a million doesn't sound like a lot, unless, of course, you're one of those two. To vaccinate or not to vaccinate, it may be one of the toughest health care decisions we have faced as a nation.
Nicole Zimmer has already decided, and now the Bush administration is preparing to educate everyone about the risks and benefits of the sometimes dangerous vaccine, so that we may all decide.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: Again, one to two in a million may not sound like a lot, unless you are one of those one to two in a million. Some other numbers, Leon, as well to mention. Besides just dying, there are some serious side effects. About 15 in a million people will probably have serious, maybe even life-threatening side effects from this vaccine. About 60 will have other side effects, and they say about a third of people will probably either miss a day of work, or at least a partial day of work if they were vaccinated -- Leon.
HARRIS: Boy, add that up, then there is a cost that we may not have been considering all along then.
GUPTA: That's right. That's right.
HARRIS: Thanks, Sanjay. As a matter of fact, you are going to be coming back in just a bit.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com