News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – State plans for giving smallpox shots to frontline healthcare workers list more than 3,600 hospitals that may participate in the program, and most of those hospitals have agreed to take part, according to federal health officials.

(CIDRAP News) – The Pentagon's mandatory anthrax shots caused adverse reactions in most recipients and helped prompt many Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard members to transfer to other units or leave the military between 1998 and 2000, according to a survey by Congress's General Accounting Office (GAO).

(CIDRAP News) – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) should make a few changes in its congressionally required research program on the anthrax vaccine, including studying use of the vaccine in children and the elderly, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) said in a recent report.

(CIDRAP News) – A large-scale bioterrorist attack on US agriculture would probably not lead to famine or malnutrition, but it could damage the economy, public health, and public confidence in the food system, according to a report recently released by the National Academies' National Research Council.

(CIDRAP News) – The Department of Defense's (DoD's) vaccine acquisition program is poorly organized and underfunded, making it difficult for the department to obtain important vaccines and maintain the supply of existing ones, according to a new report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM).

(CIDRAP News) – Workers who decontaminate buildings tainted with anthrax (Bacillus anthracis) spores should be vaccinated against the disease or receive preventive antibiotic treatment, according to new guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

July 1, 2002 (CIDRAP News) – About half of the nation's supply of anthrax vaccine—previously dedicated almost entirely to military use—will henceforward be set aside for civilian use in the event of another anthrax attack, federal defense and health officials announced Jun 28.

(CIDRAP News) – In their initiative to take the public's pulse on smallpox immunization policy, federal health officials have announced the schedule for five upcoming public forums and have set up a Web page to gather comments on policy options.

(CIDRAP News) – A committee of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) has concluded after 17 months of study that the existing anthrax vaccine is effective and "acceptably safe," but a new vaccine that requires fewer doses and that causes fewer reactions is needed.

(CIDRAP News) – Federal health officials revealed this week that they are working on a plan to use immune globulin derived from the blood of anthrax-vaccinated military personnel for emergency treatment of patients with severe cases of inhalational anthrax, if needed.