Smallpox Vaccine Update, -AND- Nurses Unions Across the United States Urge Members To Refuse Smallpox Vaccination
CAL/AAEM News Service
pottsbri@yahoo.com
Sat, 8 Feb 2003 14:23:11 -0800 (PST)
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-----Original Message-----
From: AAEM
Sent: 2/7/2003 5:21 AM
Subject: Smallpox Vaccine Update
To AAEM Members,
The following article reported on complications of the smallpox vaccine in military personnel.
Soldier Has Reaction to Smallpox Vaccine
By Laura Meckler
Associated Press Writer
Friday, January 31, 2003; 8:28 PM
The article details the first report of serious reactions to Americans receiving the vaccinations.
In the first case, a 30-year-old Army soldier at a U.S. base, suffered a skin reaction called generalized vaccinia, and officials were confident it was linked to the man's vaccination 10 days earlier.
In the second case, a 26-year-old Army soldier was admitted to an overseas military hospital for encephalitis. Diagnostic studies did not confirm that his reaction was due to his smallpox vaccination. But he had received the vaccination eight days earlier, and the timing made authorities suspicious. Both men now are in good condition, according to the Pentagon.
The military vaccinations began in December and will include up to a half-million troops in high-risk areas.
According to the article, the Pentagon reports that most of the reactions have been minor. Three percent of the people being vaccinated had to take sick leave, with an average length of absence of 1.5 days.
AAEM - 611 East Wells Street - Milwaukee, WI 53202
800-884-2236 - Fax: 414-276-3349
E-mail: info@aaem.org - Website: www.aaem.org
============================================
-----Original Message-----
From: California Healthline [mailto:CALIFORNIAHEALTHLINE@ADVISORY.COM]
Sent: Friday, January 24, 2003 10:09 AM
Nurses Unions Across the United States Urge Members To Refuse Smallpox Vaccination
01/24/2003
As health care workers in Connecticut today are scheduled to become the first in the United States to receive the smallpox vaccine under President Bush's voluntary national vaccination plan, nurses unions in several states are urging their members not to be inoculated because of concerns about the implementation of the plan and compensation for those harmed by the vaccine, the http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/024/nation/After_three_decades_vaccination_makes_a_debated_return+.shtml Boston Globe reports (Smith, Boston Globe, 1/24). President Bush on Dec. 13 announced a national smallpox vaccination plan under which as many as 10 million emergency and health care workers will receive the vaccine ( http://www.californiahealthline.org/members/basecontent.asp?contentid=47722&collectionid=3&program=1 California Healthline, 1/17). Last week, representatives from the Service Employees International Union, which represents 750,000 health care workers, and the American Federation of S!
tate, County and Municipal Employees, which represents 350,000 health care employees, asked the Bush administration to delay smallpox vaccinations for health care workers until the administration agrees to provide medical tests for voluntary recipients and compensation for those who experience adverse reactions to the vaccine ( http://www.californiahealthline.org/members/basecontent.asp?contentid=47736&collectionid=3&program=1 California Healthline, 1/21). The Globe reports that physicians in about 100 U.S. hospitals have stated they do not wish to be vaccinated (Boston Globe, 1/24). This week, nursing associations in the following states recommended that members not participate in the vaccination program:
* California: Yesterday the 50,000-member<http://www.calnurse.org/> California Nurses Association urged hospitals and nurses not to receive the vaccine, citing concerns that the program "carries more risks than benefits" and that it has been designed "more to advance a war with Iraq than save lives," the <http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/5021618.htm> Contra Costa Times reports. CNA spokesperson Lisabeth Jacobs said, "We feel this smallpox program has been made for political reasons, not public health reasons. What it's doing is inflaming public fears" (Krupnick, Contra Costa Times, 1/24). The union also stated that although the likelihood of a smallpox attack is small, the vaccine itself can cause damage including rashes, brain inflammation and blindness, and the government has not taken enough steps to provide compensation for those harmed (Malnic, <http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-nurses24jan24.story> Los Angeles Times, 1/24).
* Massachusetts: The 20,000-member <http://www.massnurses.org/> Massachusetts Nurses Association recommended that its members not volunteer for the vaccination program until the government addressed safety concerns (Connolly, Washington Post, 1/23). The MNA on Tuesday outlined concerns about the safety of needles, the lack of required furloughs for nurses receiving the vaccination to prevent possible transmission to patients, the lack of "sufficient" malpractice protection should a patient be inadvertently exposed to the virus and the lack of adequate compensation should nurses become ill from the vaccine (Smith, http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/022/metro/Nurses_wary_on_smallpox_vaccine+.shtml Boston Globe, 1/22).
* Rhode Island: The state's two largest health care unions, the United Nurses and Allied Professionals and the New England Health Care Employees Union, on Wednesday recommended that members not volunteer to receive the vaccination, saying the plan would endanger workers and their families and patients. One union representative said the program to inoculate some 1,200 Rhode Island health care workers is "hasty and ill-conceived" and "may do more harm than good" (Freyer,<http://www.projo.com/health/content/projo_20030123_nurses23.d17a6.html> Providence Journal, 1/23).
Senators Request Federal Compensation Fund
Responding to growing concern, twenty-two Democratic senators, led by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), Wednesday sent a letter to President Bush requesting the establishment of a federal fund to support health workers who experience complications from the vaccination or from inadvertent contact with the live vaccine. "There is a clear need to vaccinate health care workers against smallpox, but it is wrong to ask millions of Americans to face the risks of smallpox vaccination without doing all we can to protect their health and safety," the letter said. <http://www.cdc.gov/> CDC projections predict that as many as 42 out of every one million inoculations will result in severe side effects, including blindness and brain inflammation, and that one or two will die.
Nurses Lack 'Critical Knowledge' about Vaccine
In related news, a national survey released this week finds that the majority of U.S. nurses do not understand some factors about the smallpox vaccine, such as the time at which it can be effectively administered and likelihood of transmission, the Washington Post reports ( <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30335-2003Jan22.html> Washington Post, 1/23). The survey, conducted by the <http://www.immunizationinfo.org/> National Network for Immunization Information, found that 79% of the 2,661 nurses polled did not know that the vaccine is effective in preventing the disease if administered within a few days of exposure to the virus. Sixty-two percent of those surveyed mistakenly thought it "very likely" or "somewhat likely" that, if unvaccinated, they would contract the disease by coming within "a few feet" of someone with the disease (NNII release, 1/23). Transmission of the virus generally occurs through "close bodily contact," according to the Post (Washington P!
ost, 1/23). "These survey results demonstrate the need to rapidly develop and implement a campaign to educate members of the nursing community, especially younger members, about the smallpox vaccine and the likely role of nurses if mass vaccinations ever become necessary," Louis Sullivan, co-chair of NNII and former HHS secretary, said (NNII release, 1/23). The survey is available <http://www.immunizationinfo.org/features/index.cfm?ID=51> online.
Media Coverage
NPR's " <http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/index.html> Morning Edition" today reported on health care workers in Connecticut who are set to be the first U.S. civilians to receive smallpox vaccinations (Knox, "Morning Edition," NPR, 1/24). The full segment is available in RealPlayer <http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/me/20030124.me.03.ram> online.
In addition, NPR's " <http://www.npr.org/programs/totn/index.html> Talk of the Nation/ <http://www.sciencefriday.com/> Science Friday" today will include a discussion in the first hour of the program with public health officials about the vaccination plan. Guests on the program include Kristine Gebbie, vice-chair of the <http://www.iom.edu/> Institute of Medicine's <http://www.iom.edu/IOM/IOMHome.nsf/Pages/Smallpox+Vaccination> Committee on Smallpox Vaccination Program Implementation; Elizabeth Standish Gill, director and associate professor at the <http://cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept/nursing/> Columbia University School of Nursing's <http://www.nursing.hs.columbia.edu/institute-centers/chphsr/> Center for Health Policy; and Michael Osterholm, director of the <http://www1.umn.edu/cidrap/> Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy and professor at the University of Minnesota's School of Public Health <http://www.sph.umn.edu/> (Raeburn, "Talk of the Nation/Science Friday,!
" NPR, 1/24). The full segment will be available in RealPlayer after 6 p.m. ET http://discover.npr.org/rundowns/rundown.jhtml?prgId=5&prgDate=January/24/2003 online.
=====================================
Brian Potts
Managing Editor, CAL/AAEM News Service
MS-IV, UC Irvine
MD/MBA candidate
pottsbri@yahoo.com
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<FONT size=2>
<P></P>
<P>-----Original Message-----</P>
<P>From: AAEM</P>
<P>Sent: 2/7/2003 5:21 AM</P>
<P>Subject: Smallpox Vaccine Update</P>
<P>To AAEM Members,</P>
<P>The following article reported on complications of the smallpox vaccine in military personnel.</P>
<P>Soldier Has Reaction to Smallpox Vaccine</P>
<P>By Laura Meckler</P>
<P>Associated Press Writer</P>
<P>Friday, January 31, 2003; 8:28 PM</P>
<P>The article details the first report of serious reactions to Americans receiving the vaccinations.</P>
<P>In the first case, a 30-year-old Army soldier at a U.S. base, suffered a skin reaction called generalized vaccinia, and officials were confident it was linked to the man's vaccination 10 days earlier.</P>
<P>In the second case, a 26-year-old Army soldier was admitted to an overseas military hospital for encephalitis. Diagnostic studies did not confirm that his reaction was due to his smallpox vaccination. But he had received the vaccination eight days earlier, and the timing made authorities suspicious. Both men now are in good condition, according to the Pentagon.</P>
<P>The military vaccinations began in December and will include up to a half-million troops in high-risk areas.</P>
<P>According to the article, the Pentagon reports that most of the reactions have been minor. Three percent of the people being vaccinated had to take sick leave, with an average length of absence of 1.5 days.</P>
<P> </P>
<P>AAEM - 611 East Wells Street - Milwaukee, WI 53202</P>
<P>800-884-2236 - Fax: 414-276-3349</P>
<P>E-mail: <A href="mailto:info@aaem.org">info@aaem.org</A> - Website: </FONT><A href="http://us.f413.mail.yahoo.com/ym/www.aaem.org"><U><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>www.aaem.org</U></FONT></A><FONT size=2> </FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=2>============================================</FONT></P><FONT size=2><FONT size=2>
<P>-----Original Message-----</P>
<P>From: California Healthline [</FONT><A href="mailto:CALIFORNIAHEALTHLINE@ADVISORY.COM"><U><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>mailto:CALIFORNIAHEALTHLINE@ADVISORY.COM</U></FONT></A><FONT size=2>] </P>
<P>Sent: Friday, January 24, 2003 10:09 AM</P>
<P></P>
<P></P>
<P>Nurses Unions Across the United States Urge Members To Refuse Smallpox Vaccination </P>
<P>01/24/2003 </P>
<P>As health care workers in Connecticut today are scheduled to become the first in the United States to receive the smallpox vaccine under President Bush's voluntary national vaccination plan, nurses unions in several states are urging their members not to be inoculated because of concerns about the implementation of the plan and compensation for those harmed by the vaccine, the </FONT><A href="http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/024/nation/After_three_decades_vaccin"><U><FONT color=#0000ff size=2><A href="http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/024/nation/After_three_decades_vaccination_makes_a_debated_return+.shtml">http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/024/nation/After_three_decades_vaccin</U></FONT></A><FONT size=2>ation_makes_a_debated_return+.shtml</A> Boston Globe reports (Smith, Boston Globe, 1/24). President Bush on Dec. 13 announced a national smallpox vaccination plan under which as many as 10 million emergency and health care workers will receive the vaccine ( </FONT><A hre!
f="http://www.californiahealthline.org/members/basecontent.asp?contentid=4"><U><FONT color=#0000ff size=2><A href="http://www.californiahealthline.org/members/basecontent.asp?contentid=47722&collectionid=3&program=1">http://www.californiahealthline.org/members/basecontent.asp?contentid=4</U></FONT></A><FONT size=2>7722&collectionid=3&program=1</A> California Healthline, 1/17). Last week, representatives from the Service Employees International Union, which represents 750,000 health care workers, and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents 350,000 health care employees, asked the Bush administration to delay smallpox vaccinations for health care workers until the administration agrees to provide medical tests for voluntary recipients and compensation for those who experience adverse reactions to the vaccine ( </FONT><A href="http://www.californiahealthline.org/members/basecontent.asp?contentid=4"><U><FONT color=#0000f!
f size=2><A href="http://www.californiahealthline.org/members/basecontent.asp?contentid=47736&collectionid=3&program=1">http://www.californiahealthline.org/members/basecontent.asp?contentid=4</U></FONT></A><FONT size=2>7736&collectionid=3&program=1</A> California Healthline, 1/21). The Globe reports that physicians in about 100 U.S. hospitals have stated they do not wish to be vaccinated (Boston Globe, 1/24). This week, nursing associations in the following states recommended that members not participate in the vaccination program: </P>
<P>* California: Yesterday the 50,000-member<</FONT><A href="http://www.calnurse.org/"><U><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>http://www.calnurse.org/</U></FONT></A><FONT size=2>> California Nurses Association urged hospitals and nurses not to receive the vaccine, citing concerns that the program "carries more risks than benefits" and that it has been designed "more to advance a war with Iraq than save lives," the <</FONT><A href="http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/5021618.htm"><U><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/5021618.htm</U></FONT></A><FONT size=2>> Contra Costa Times reports. CNA spokesperson Lisabeth Jacobs said, "We feel this smallpox program has been made for political reasons, not public health reasons. What it's doing is inflaming public fears" (Krupnick, Contra Costa Times, 1/24). The union also stated that although the likelihood of a smallpox attack is small, the vaccine itself can cause damage including rashes, brain inflammation!
and blindness, and the government has not taken enough steps to provide compensation for those harmed (Malnic, <</FONT><A href="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-nurses24jan24.story"><U><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-nurses24jan24.story</U></FONT></A><FONT size=2>> Los Angeles Times, 1/24).</P>
<P>* Massachusetts: The 20,000-member <</FONT><A href="http://www.massnurses.org/"><U><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>http://www.massnurses.org/</U></FONT></A><FONT size=2>> Massachusetts Nurses Association recommended that its members not volunteer for the vaccination program until the government addressed safety concerns (Connolly, Washington Post, 1/23). The MNA on Tuesday outlined concerns about the safety of needles, the lack of required furloughs for nurses receiving the vaccination to prevent possible transmission to patients, the lack of "sufficient" malpractice protection should a patient be inadvertently exposed to the virus and the lack of adequate compensation should nurses become ill from the vaccine (Smith, </FONT><A href="http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/022/metro/Nurses_wary_on_smallpox_vac"><U><FONT color=#0000ff size=2><A href="http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/022/metro/Nurses_wary_on_smallpox_vaccine+.shtml">http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/022/metro/N!
urses_wary_on_smallpox_vac</U></FONT></A><FONT size=2>cine+.shtml</A> Boston Globe, 1/22).</P>
<P>* Rhode Island: The state's two largest health care unions, the United Nurses and Allied Professionals and the New England Health Care Employees Union, on Wednesday recommended that members not volunteer to receive the vaccination, saying the plan would endanger workers and their families and patients. One union representative said the program to inoculate some 1,200 Rhode Island health care workers is "hasty and ill-conceived" and "may do more harm than good" (Freyer,<</FONT><A href="http://www.projo.com/health/content/projo_20030123_nurses23.d17a6.html"><U><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>http://www.projo.com/health/content/projo_20030123_nurses23.d17a6.html</U></FONT></A><FONT size=2>> Providence Journal, 1/23).</P>
<P>Senators Request Federal Compensation Fund </P>
<P>Responding to growing concern, twenty-two Democratic senators, led by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), Wednesday sent a letter to President Bush requesting the establishment of a federal fund to support health workers who experience complications from the vaccination or from inadvertent contact with the live vaccine. "There is a clear need to vaccinate health care workers against smallpox, but it is wrong to ask millions of Americans to face the risks of smallpox vaccination without doing all we can to protect their health and safety," the letter said. <</FONT><A href="http://www.cdc.gov/"><U><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>http://www.cdc.gov/</U></FONT></A><FONT size=2>> CDC projections predict that as many as 42 out of every one million inoculations will result in severe side effects, including blindness and brain inflammation, and that one or two will die. </P>
<P>Nurses Lack 'Critical Knowledge' about Vaccine </P>
<P>In related news, a national survey released this week finds that the majority of U.S. nurses do not understand some factors about the smallpox vaccine, such as the time at which it can be effectively administered and likelihood of transmission, the Washington Post reports ( <</FONT><A href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30335-2003Jan22.html"><U><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30335-2003Jan22.html</U></FONT></A><FONT size=2>> Washington Post, 1/23). The survey, conducted by the <</FONT><A href="http://www.immunizationinfo.org/"><U><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>http://www.immunizationinfo.org/</U></FONT></A><FONT size=2>> National Network for Immunization Information, found that 79% of the 2,661 nurses polled did not know that the vaccine is effective in preventing the disease if administered within a few days of exposure to the virus. Sixty-two percent of those surveyed mistakenly thought it "very likely" !
or "somewhat likely" that, if unvaccinated, they would contract the disease by coming within "a few feet" of someone with the disease (NNII release, 1/23). Transmission of the virus generally occurs through "close bodily contact," according to the Post (Washington Post, 1/23). "These survey results demonstrate the need to rapidly develop and implement a campaign to educate members of the nursing community, especially younger members, about the smallpox vaccine and the likely role of nurses if mass vaccinations ever become necessary," Louis Sullivan, co-chair of NNII and former HHS secretary, said (NNII release, 1/23). The survey is available <</FONT><A href="http://www.immunizationinfo.org/features/index.cfm?ID=51"><U><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>http://www.immunizationinfo.org/features/index.cfm?ID=51</U></FONT></A><FONT size=2>> online. </P>
<P>Media Coverage </P>
<P>NPR's " <</FONT><A href="http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/index.html"><U><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/index.html</U></FONT></A><FONT size=2>> Morning Edition" today reported on health care workers in Connecticut who are set to be the first U.S. civilians to receive smallpox vaccinations (Knox, "Morning Edition," NPR, 1/24). The full segment is available in RealPlayer <</FONT><A href="http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/me/20030124.me.03.ram"><U><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/me/20030124.me.03.ram</U></FONT></A><FONT size=2>> online.</P>
<P>In addition, NPR's " <</FONT><A href="http://www.npr.org/programs/totn/index.html"><U><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>http://www.npr.org/programs/totn/index.html</U></FONT></A><FONT size=2>> Talk of the Nation/ <</FONT><A href="http://www.sciencefriday.com/"><U><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>http://www.sciencefriday.com/</U></FONT></A><FONT size=2>> Science Friday" today will include a discussion in the first hour of the program with public health officials about the vaccination plan. Guests on the program include Kristine Gebbie, vice-chair of the <</FONT><A href="http://www.iom.edu/"><U><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>http://www.iom.edu/</U></FONT></A><FONT size=2>> </FONT><FONT size=2>Institute of Medicine's <</FONT><A href="http://www.iom.edu/IOM/IOMHome.nsf/Pages/Smallpox+Vaccination"><U><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>http://www.iom.edu/IOM/IOMHome.nsf/Pages/Smallpox+Vaccination</U></FONT></A><FONT size=2>> Committee on Smallpox Vaccination Program Implementati!
on; Elizabeth Standish Gill, director and associate professor at the <</FONT><A href="http://cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept/nursing/"><U><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>http://cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept/nursing/</U></FONT></A><FONT size=2>> Columbia University School of Nursing's <</FONT><A href="http://www.nursing.hs.columbia.edu/institute-centers/chphsr/"><U><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>http://www.nursing.hs.columbia.edu/institute-centers/chphsr/</U></FONT></A><FONT size=2>> Center for Health Policy; and Michael Osterholm, director of the <</FONT><A href="http://www1.umn.edu/cidrap/"><U><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>http://www1.umn.edu/cidrap/</U></FONT></A><FONT size=2>> Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy and professor at the University of Minnesota's School of Public Health <</FONT><A href="http://www.sph.umn.edu/"><U><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>http://www.sph.umn.edu/</U></FONT></A><FONT size=2>> (Raeburn, "Talk of the Nation/Science Friday," NPR, !
1/24). The full segment will be available in RealPlayer after 6 p.m. ET </FONT><A href="http://discover.npr.org/rundowns/rundown.jhtml?prgId=5&prgDate=January/"><U><FONT color=#0000ff size=2><A href="http://discover.npr.org/rundowns/rundown.jhtml?prgId=5&prgDate=January/24/2003">http://discover.npr.org/rundowns/rundown.jhtml?prgId=5&prgDate=January/</U></FONT></A><FONT size=2>24/2003</A> online. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=2>=====================================</P></FONT></FONT><BR><BR><STRONG>Brian Potts <BR>Managing Editor, CAL/AAEM News Service</STRONG> <BR>MS-IV, UC Irvine <BR>MD/MBA candidate <BR>pottsbri@yahoo.com<p><br><hr size=1>Do you Yahoo!?<br>
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