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CNN Live Today

Daily Dose

Aired November 26, 2002 - 11:31   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.


CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush expected to announce plans soon for vaccinating health care workers and others against smallpox.
CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen has learned more of the plan for dealing with possible bioterrorism attacks, and the first line of defense, obviously, is going to be the first responders, maybe health care workers. That's why they're the priority here.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, exactly, exactly.

An administration official tells me, this will be done in steps. What would be done first is a round of health care workers; 500,000 health workers would be offered the vaccine, hospital workers. It would be voluntary. As a matter of fact, the administration expects that half of all hospitals might not want to participate because of the terrible side effects this vaccine can have.

The second step would be seven to 10 million first responders, hospital workers, health care workers, EMS, police, fire, that sort of thing, and the vaccine would be available to the public, but not recommended.

And this is interesting, what the administration is trying to say is this is a very dangerous vaccine. If you really, really, want it, you can have it, we don't recommend it, but you have to join the study in order to do it.

Let's look at what some of those side effects are. For every million people vaccinated, there would be one to two deaths, and 15 people would life-threatening illnesses. And so, Carol, this has been a really anguishing decision for the president and his advisers, because they know that people will die from getting the vaccine.

LIN: How do you know if you should get one or I should get one then?

COHEN: Well, what the administration is saying now is that people like you and I should not get one, because we're not first responders --we're not doctors, or nurses or fighters. However, the only person who can really answer whether someone ought to get a smallpox vaccine is Saddam Hussein. If he, in fact, has smallpox, is ready to use it, it would cause a great number of cases in this country, you might want to consider getting the smallpox vaccine, and that's what the government would do if there were a significant number of cases. But if he's not going to use it, if Saddam Hussein doesn't have this, or he hasn't weaponized properly so that it would be effective, then you don't want to get a vaccine, because it's so dangerous, that why get it if it's not a threat?

LIN: I don't want to be confused about my childhood shots. Did we have smallpox vaccines as children.

COHEN: Are you over 30?

LIN: Yes.

COHEN: Then you did.

LIN: And how long does it last?

COHEN: It's thought that it probably last very long, it's thought that those of us who are lucky enough to be over 30 and got that smallpox shot when we were around one year old, it probably does not protect us now. It may give us some protection, but probably not much. The good news is if someone who's been vaccinated once would be vaccinated again now, if that's what the government eventually went ahead and did, then we would be much less prone to some of those terrible side effects, death, encephalitis,so that it protects you against some of the bad side effects of the vaccine, if you were to be revaccinated.

LIN: But if you wanted to get one, regardless of the warnings, could you go to your doctor and ask for one.

COHEN: Under this plan that the president is expected to announce in the coming weeks, you wouldn't go to your doctor; you would have to actually join a study. You would be part of a protocol and you would receive the vaccine in that way, and you'd be studied and looked at. You couldn't go to your doctor and get it, you would have to be part of a study.

LIN: Over 30, with age comes wisdom, but not immunity.

COHEN: That's right, exactly. Some immunity, maybe.

LIN: Thanks.

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 November 26, 2002 - 11:31   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush expected to announce plans soon for vaccinating health care workers and others against smallpox.
CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen has learned more of the plan for dealing with possible bioterrorism attacks, and the first line of defense, obviously, is going to be the first responders, maybe health care workers. That's why they're the priority here.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, exactly, exactly.

An administration official tells me, this will be done in steps. What would be done first is a round of health care workers; 500,000 health workers would be offered the vaccine, hospital workers. It would be voluntary. As a matter of fact, the administration expects that half of all hospitals might not want to participate because of the terrible side effects this vaccine can have.

The second step would be seven to 10 million first responders, hospital workers, health care workers, EMS, police, fire, that sort of thing, and the vaccine would be available to the public, but not recommended.

And this is interesting, what the administration is trying to say is this is a very dangerous vaccine. If you really, really, want it, you can have it, we don't recommend it, but you have to join the study in order to do it.

Let's look at what some of those side effects are. For every million people vaccinated, there would be one to two deaths, and 15 people would life-threatening illnesses. And so, Carol, this has been a really anguishing decision for the president and his advisers, because they know that people will die from getting the vaccine.

LIN: How do you know if you should get one or I should get one then?

COHEN: Well, what the administration is saying now is that people like you and I should not get one, because we're not first responders --we're not doctors, or nurses or fighters. However, the only person who can really answer whether someone ought to get a smallpox vaccine is Saddam Hussein. If he, in fact, has smallpox, is ready to use it, it would cause a great number of cases in this country, you might want to consider getting the smallpox vaccine, and that's what the government would do if there were a significant number of cases. But if he's not going to use it, if Saddam Hussein doesn't have this, or he hasn't weaponized properly so that it would be effective, then you don't want to get a vaccine, because it's so dangerous, that why get it if it's not a threat?

LIN: I don't want to be confused about my childhood shots. Did we have smallpox vaccines as children.

COHEN: Are you over 30?

LIN: Yes.

COHEN: Then you did.

LIN: And how long does it last?

COHEN: It's thought that it probably last very long, it's thought that those of us who are lucky enough to be over 30 and got that smallpox shot when we were around one year old, it probably does not protect us now. It may give us some protection, but probably not much. The good news is if someone who's been vaccinated once would be vaccinated again now, if that's what the government eventually went ahead and did, then we would be much less prone to some of those terrible side effects, death, encephalitis,so that it protects you against some of the bad side effects of the vaccine, if you were to be revaccinated.

LIN: But if you wanted to get one, regardless of the warnings, could you go to your doctor and ask for one.

COHEN: Under this plan that the president is expected to announce in the coming weeks, you wouldn't go to your doctor; you would have to actually join a study. You would be part of a protocol and you would receive the vaccine in that way, and you'd be studied and looked at. You couldn't go to your doctor and get it, you would have to be part of a study.

LIN: Over 30, with age comes wisdom, but not immunity.

COHEN: That's right, exactly. Some immunity, maybe.

LIN: Thanks.

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