Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

Smallpox Vaccine

Aired January 24, 2003 - 11:41   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: And it's not just Ricin that's got officials in this nation concerned about the nefarious jobs by terrorists. Smallpox is also as well high on the agenda, and doctors and nurses in Connecticut are now rolling up their sleeves today because they are getting the first round of smallpox vaccinations in the U.S. since the early '70s, and our medical news correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is standing by now at a hospital in Hartford.
Good morning, Elizabeth.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Leon.

This is the historic room where those vaccinations are going to be taking place, as you said, for the first time in 30 years.

Now, why after 30 years as the government decided to start vaccinating people against smallpox again? Well, the reason is that there is fear that Saddam Hussein or some other enemy of the United States might use smallpox as a weapon. So the president's plan right now is to start with a relatively small group of health care workers. They're planning on vaccinating somewhere between 2,000 and 6,000 health care workers here in the state of Connecticut. They're going to be starting again in just two hours.

The reason why this is so controversial, is that this is a dangerous vaccine, one of the most dangerous around. If you were to vaccinate one million people, chances are, one of them would die and another 60 would get serious or even life-threatening illnesses. People volunteer for this. No one is made, is forced to become vaccinated.

I am standing with someone who is going to volunteer to be vaccinated. His name is Michael Gray, and Dr. Gray is the head of the team that's going to be vaccinating people in the state of Connecticut.

Welcome.

And tell me, why did you decide that you want to be vaccinated?

DR. MICHAEL GRAY: Well, I that think having looked at the reasons behind the stage I vaccination program, it made sense to me as a doctor and a public health professional. I think the risks of not doing anything, not having any prepared and reimmunized health care workers is too great, even though the risk I think of a smallpox attack is small, if there were such an attack and we had no one who was protected, I think that would be a significant problem. Is there a completely safe vaccine? No. But I think that the risks associated with the vaccine, although some of them can be terrible, are outweighed by the risks of not having any protected health care workers.

COHEN: Some doctors and nurses have said we disagree, we don't want to get vaccinated, the risk is too high, and we don't really think there's going to be an attack. What would you say to those colleagues?

GRAY: I think those are reasonable positions that people have taken and there's some sense behind them. There's no way for me to know whether or not there's going to be a smallpox attack, and I think that in the absence of knowing that that would never occur, I think having a limited number of health care workers who are trained and ready to respond to an attack, if, God awful, you know, that event should occur, makes some sense, and so I think this is a limited, very sensible first stage, and for that reason, I'm in favor of it.

COHEN: Thank you, Dr. Gray. Thanks.

So again, that effort that Dr. Gray is leading up will be starting here in two hours in this room. They'll be vaccinating health care workers here in Connecticut -- Leon.

HARRIS: Thanks, Elizabeth. Might be nice to see the tables turned and see the doctors getting the shots for once. Be warm. We'll see you in 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 January 24, 2003 - 11:41   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And it's not just Ricin that's got officials in this nation concerned about the nefarious jobs by terrorists. Smallpox is also as well high on the agenda, and doctors and nurses in Connecticut are now rolling up their sleeves today because they are getting the first round of smallpox vaccinations in the U.S. since the early '70s, and our medical news correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is standing by now at a hospital in Hartford.
Good morning, Elizabeth.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Leon.

This is the historic room where those vaccinations are going to be taking place, as you said, for the first time in 30 years.

Now, why after 30 years as the government decided to start vaccinating people against smallpox again? Well, the reason is that there is fear that Saddam Hussein or some other enemy of the United States might use smallpox as a weapon. So the president's plan right now is to start with a relatively small group of health care workers. They're planning on vaccinating somewhere between 2,000 and 6,000 health care workers here in the state of Connecticut. They're going to be starting again in just two hours.

The reason why this is so controversial, is that this is a dangerous vaccine, one of the most dangerous around. If you were to vaccinate one million people, chances are, one of them would die and another 60 would get serious or even life-threatening illnesses. People volunteer for this. No one is made, is forced to become vaccinated.

I am standing with someone who is going to volunteer to be vaccinated. His name is Michael Gray, and Dr. Gray is the head of the team that's going to be vaccinating people in the state of Connecticut.

Welcome.

And tell me, why did you decide that you want to be vaccinated?

DR. MICHAEL GRAY: Well, I that think having looked at the reasons behind the stage I vaccination program, it made sense to me as a doctor and a public health professional. I think the risks of not doing anything, not having any prepared and reimmunized health care workers is too great, even though the risk I think of a smallpox attack is small, if there were such an attack and we had no one who was protected, I think that would be a significant problem. Is there a completely safe vaccine? No. But I think that the risks associated with the vaccine, although some of them can be terrible, are outweighed by the risks of not having any protected health care workers.

COHEN: Some doctors and nurses have said we disagree, we don't want to get vaccinated, the risk is too high, and we don't really think there's going to be an attack. What would you say to those colleagues?

GRAY: I think those are reasonable positions that people have taken and there's some sense behind them. There's no way for me to know whether or not there's going to be a smallpox attack, and I think that in the absence of knowing that that would never occur, I think having a limited number of health care workers who are trained and ready to respond to an attack, if, God awful, you know, that event should occur, makes some sense, and so I think this is a limited, very sensible first stage, and for that reason, I'm in favor of it.

COHEN: Thank you, Dr. Gray. Thanks.

So again, that effort that Dr. Gray is leading up will be starting here in two hours in this room. They'll be vaccinating health care workers here in Connecticut -- Leon.

HARRIS: Thanks, Elizabeth. Might be nice to see the tables turned and see the doctors getting the shots for once. Be warm. We'll see you in 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