February 11, 2003

Volunteer Health Workers Receive Smallpox Vaccinations

INDIANAPOLIS – Six volunteer health-care professionals have rolled up their sleeves to become part of Phase One of Indiana’s Smallpox Pre-Event Vaccination Project.

The first vaccination clinic was held Feb. 11 at Wishard Memorial Hospital and included public health nurses and workers from around the state and a local physician, all of whom volunteered for the inoculation.

“We have to prime the pump,” said Indianapolis physician Dr. Joe Francis, a member of Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson’s emergency preparedness task force, speaking to the media after receiving his vaccination “The safest way to deploy small pox vaccination is to have a cadre of health care personnel available already immunized, ready to go and respond in the event of a national emergency.”

The state’s 92 counties have been organized into 10 pre-event vaccination districts. Over the next 45 days, vaccination clinics for health professionals will take place at locations in each of these districts, providing Indiana with an immediate response capacity anywhere in the state in the unlikely event of an intentional release of smallpox.

District locations include health departments in Porter, St. Joseph, Tippecanoe, Vigo, Vanderburgh, Allen, Delaware, Marion, Clark and Lawrence counties.

“While it’s important that these public health and medical workers be vaccinated so they can protect the public in case of an emergency, there is no need to vaccinate the entire health-care workforce or the general public at this time,” said State Health Commissioner Greg Wilson, M.D.

Each of these coordinating health departments provided estimates to the State Department of Health on the number of health personnel who could volunteer to receive the vaccine in Phase One. Indiana has requested 2,900 doses of the smallpox vaccine from the Centers for Disease Control, based on those estimates.

In Phase One, which will take about 45 days for implementation, members of the public health response teams and health care response teams are voluntarily receiving the vaccinations. Public team volunteers would identify people who need to be vaccinated to control an outbreak and establish clinics; health team volunteers would include hospital staff that would treat a patient with a suspected or confirmed case of smallpox.

The Indiana Smallpox Advisory Group, headed by Kenneth Fife, M.D., Ph.D., professor of medicine and of microbiology and immunology at the Indiana University School of Medicine, provided input to state health officials.

“Routine vaccination for smallpox stopped in this country in 1972 and production of the vaccine ceased by 1980 because of the eradication of smallpox,” said Dr. Fife, adding that those who received vaccinations before 1972 do not have a lifelong immunity because it declines within a 10-year period after the vaccination.

The vaccine, which can be given within three to five days of exposure and still provide some protection against the disease, has a number of side effects for about 1 in every 1,000 people.

Indiana’s last reported smallpox cases were in 1948. The World Health Organization in 1980 declared the disease had been wiped out. However, smallpox remains a serious threat because some of the remaining stock in laboratories could be used by terrorists.

“It’s our responsibility to be prepared to protect the public health,” said Marion County Health Department Director Virginia A. Caine, associate professor in the Division of Infectious Disease at the IU School of Medicine. “By having these public health and hospital workers vaccinated, we are increasing the ability of the public health system to respond to and to control a smallpox outbreak.”

State epidemiologist Robert Teclaw, D.V.M. said volunteers receive extensive medical screening to determine if there are reasons why they should not be vaccinated. Additionally, each volunteer will receive follow-up checks to ensure the vaccine is effective. Preparations have been made to provide care if anyone has a reaction to the smallpox vaccine.

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Media Contacts:

Matthew McCardle
Indiana State Dept. of Health
317-234-2733

Collette DuValle
Marion Co. Health Dept.
317-221-2463

Joe Stuteville
IU School of Medicine
317-274-7722
jstutevi@iupui.edu

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