News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – VaxGen Inc., a California biotechnology company, announced plans this week to seek US licensing for an attenuated smallpox vaccine that is considered safer than existing vaccines but was developed too recently to be proved effective against the disease.

(CIDRAP News) – Two recent public opinion polls suggest that somewhere between half and two thirds of Americans would get a smallpox shot if it were offered, despite the risk of serious side effects.

(CIDRAP News) – President Bush tomorrow will announce a plan to begin vaccinating military personnel and front-line healthcare workers against smallpox early next year and to offer the vaccine to the public in 2004, according to reports from major news organizations today.

(CIDRAP News) – Following up on two pieces of antiterrorism legislation, federal agencies have established new rules on the handling of biological agents and toxins that could endanger people, crops, or livestock.

(CIDRAP News) – The 7,000-member Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) has urged President Bush not to make smallpox vaccine available to the public for now, on grounds that serious reactions to it could undermine public confidence in the shots and in other immunizations as well.

(CIDRAP News) – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has revised and expanded its guidelines for ensuring that laboratories keep dangerous pathogens from falling into the hands of terrorists.

By Craig W. Hedberg, PhDUniversity of Minnesota

Editor's Note: This commentary is a follow-up to "Commentary: Blame the public health system for prolonging listeriosis outbreak," published Oct 9, 2002.

(CIDRAP News) – In passing a bill to create a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) this week, Congress left the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in charge of most bioterrorism preparedness and civilian biodefense research programs—to the relief of medical research and public health groups.

(CIDRAP News) – Now that the federal government has some licensed smallpox vaccine in its stockpile, a presidential announcement on vaccination recommendations may be coming very soon, bioterrorism expert Michael T. Osterholm, PhD, MPH, predicted last week.

"I believe that in the next days you'll be hearing from the president about this vaccine," Osterholm told healthcare workers at a meeting in Minneapolis.

(CIDRAP News) – Nearly all local public healthdepartments have made some progress on bioterrorism preparedness in the pastyear, according to a recent online survey by the National Association of Countyand City Health Officials (NACCHO).