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CNN Saturday Morning News
Military Along With Health Workers to Vaccinate Against Smallpox
Aired December 14, 2002 - 09:26 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.
CHARLES MOLINEAUX: Some members of the military are already getting vaccinated for smallpox. President Bush announced yesterday the military and some health workers will get the vaccine as a precaution against a bioterror attack. It is a decision that has some risks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This particular vaccine does involve a small risk of serious health considerations. As commander and chief, I do not believe I can ask others to accept this risk unless I am willing do the same. Therefore, I will receive the vaccine along with our military.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOLINEAUX: Dr. Marc Siegel of NYU Medical Center joins us now with some insight on what people need to know to make an informed decision about getting the smallpox vaccination. Dr. Siegel has an op-ed piece in today's "New York Times."
Thank you very much for joining us on a Saturday morning.
Bottom line, you say the risks of getting vaccinated for smallpox outweigh the benefits for the general Population. Now, if it's so deadly and the odds of severe side effects are so slim, couldn't you see a lot of people saying, Sign me up?
DR. MARC SIEGEL, NYU MEDICAL CENTER: Absolutely, Charles. And I think you have to realize that in medicine, there's always a risk/benefit ratio that goes on. And the people hopefully that are best in a position to make that determination are public health officials as well as your physician.
And in this case, as President Bush said, if the vaccine is given to the whole population, there are significant risks of using a live virus vaccine versus the benefit where smallpox hasn't yet appeared. And if it does appear, we have time to respond to it. We can always quarantine people. It will not become widespread. That is not the nature of this virus. It will not spread quickly.
MOLINEAUX: Maybe we may need to go over some of these odds. As I understand it, it's something like 1.5 a million that this vaccine could actually kill you.
SIEGEL: Right, exactly. And more than that, you know, we have a number of immunocompromised people in the population these days. They cannot take the vaccine, but they may not know exactly who they are. Pregnant women can't really have it. People with skin conditions, it can occasionally cause brain swelling. It's a live virus. It's a fairly safe vaccine, but on a large scale, it has problems.
Now, there are newer vaccines in the works that haven't been used here yet, that haven't been approved yet. But I think, you know, in this pretty short amount of time, these may become available.
MOLINEAUX: What about people who might feel too concerned to wait for some new vaccine that's still in the pipeline?
SIEGEL: Well, I think that if smallpox were to appear, it would be reasonable to consider larger-scale vaccinations. But right now, I would urge people to consider that the risk of the vaccine actually outweighs the risk of smallpox, because smallpox is not here.
MOLINEAUX: The current vaccination plan calls for a half a million military personnel to get shots and then about another half a million public health workers who could very well end up being first responders to an outbreak. Question, if you are one of these people, or someone close to you is, should you be concerned?
SIEGEL: I think that emergency health workers and military should get this vaccine because there -- historically, there's been a problem with smallpox spreading in the hospitals where it's occurred. So I think it's wise to give it to people who may be treating anyone that were to get it.
Similarly, the military, you know, is going to be going into action in an area where there may very well be smallpox. Again, on a one to one basis, this vaccine is pretty safe, and it actually will give you a temporary immunity over some period of time. It's prudent for people to take it who are going to be at some risk.
MOLINEAUX: OK, thank you very much, Dr. Marc Siegel. Good to have you with us this morning.
SIEGEL: Thank you, Charles.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Smallpox>
Aired December 14, 2002 - 09:26 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHARLES MOLINEAUX: Some members of the military are already getting vaccinated for smallpox. President Bush announced yesterday the military and some health workers will get the vaccine as a precaution against a bioterror attack. It is a decision that has some risks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This particular vaccine does involve a small risk of serious health considerations. As commander and chief, I do not believe I can ask others to accept this risk unless I am willing do the same. Therefore, I will receive the vaccine along with our military.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOLINEAUX: Dr. Marc Siegel of NYU Medical Center joins us now with some insight on what people need to know to make an informed decision about getting the smallpox vaccination. Dr. Siegel has an op-ed piece in today's "New York Times."
Thank you very much for joining us on a Saturday morning.
Bottom line, you say the risks of getting vaccinated for smallpox outweigh the benefits for the general Population. Now, if it's so deadly and the odds of severe side effects are so slim, couldn't you see a lot of people saying, Sign me up?
DR. MARC SIEGEL, NYU MEDICAL CENTER: Absolutely, Charles. And I think you have to realize that in medicine, there's always a risk/benefit ratio that goes on. And the people hopefully that are best in a position to make that determination are public health officials as well as your physician.
And in this case, as President Bush said, if the vaccine is given to the whole population, there are significant risks of using a live virus vaccine versus the benefit where smallpox hasn't yet appeared. And if it does appear, we have time to respond to it. We can always quarantine people. It will not become widespread. That is not the nature of this virus. It will not spread quickly.
MOLINEAUX: Maybe we may need to go over some of these odds. As I understand it, it's something like 1.5 a million that this vaccine could actually kill you.
SIEGEL: Right, exactly. And more than that, you know, we have a number of immunocompromised people in the population these days. They cannot take the vaccine, but they may not know exactly who they are. Pregnant women can't really have it. People with skin conditions, it can occasionally cause brain swelling. It's a live virus. It's a fairly safe vaccine, but on a large scale, it has problems.
Now, there are newer vaccines in the works that haven't been used here yet, that haven't been approved yet. But I think, you know, in this pretty short amount of time, these may become available.
MOLINEAUX: What about people who might feel too concerned to wait for some new vaccine that's still in the pipeline?
SIEGEL: Well, I think that if smallpox were to appear, it would be reasonable to consider larger-scale vaccinations. But right now, I would urge people to consider that the risk of the vaccine actually outweighs the risk of smallpox, because smallpox is not here.
MOLINEAUX: The current vaccination plan calls for a half a million military personnel to get shots and then about another half a million public health workers who could very well end up being first responders to an outbreak. Question, if you are one of these people, or someone close to you is, should you be concerned?
SIEGEL: I think that emergency health workers and military should get this vaccine because there -- historically, there's been a problem with smallpox spreading in the hospitals where it's occurred. So I think it's wise to give it to people who may be treating anyone that were to get it.
Similarly, the military, you know, is going to be going into action in an area where there may very well be smallpox. Again, on a one to one basis, this vaccine is pretty safe, and it actually will give you a temporary immunity over some period of time. It's prudent for people to take it who are going to be at some risk.
MOLINEAUX: OK, thank you very much, Dr. Marc Siegel. Good to have you with us this morning.
SIEGEL: Thank you, Charles.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Smallpox>
