News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – Most states remain unprepared for a bioterrorist attack despite 3 years of federal focus on the issue, according to a report issued by a national nonprofit organization.

(CIDRAP News) – The United States is pledging 20 million doses of smallpox vaccine to a global stockpile managed by the World Health Organization (WHO), Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tommy Thompson announced today.

(CIDRAP News) – Federal researchers report they have succeeded in infecting monkeys with fatal smallpox, creating the first animal model of the disease for use in testing vaccines and treatments for humans.

(CIDRAP News) – The antiviral drug cidofovir is one of very few agents used to treat serious side effects of smallpox vaccination. In a recent study, a topical form of cidofovir worked better than an intravenous formulation to protect mice from the effects of vaccinia, the smallpox vaccine virus.

(CIDRAP News) – Two vaccine companies have received contracts estimated at about $200 million to produce a modified smallpox vaccine for the US government.

Acambis, based in Cambridge, UK, and Cambridge, Mass., and Denmark's Bavarian Nordic both won contracts on Sep 30 to continue research on a smallpox vaccine made with a modified version of the currently used live vaccinia (Dryvax) vaccine, news services reported.

(CIDRAP News) – A test of smallpox vaccine made by Aventis Pasteur in the 1950s show it is still effective even when diluted, suggesting that the United States has more than enough vaccine for everyone, according to a report this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

(CIDRAP News) – President Bush today signed the bill establishing Project BioShield, a $5.6 billion program to speed the development of drugs and vaccines to combat the effects of biological, chemical, nuclear, and radiological agents.

(CIDRAP News) – More US troops and civilian defense workers serving overseas will be getting smallpox and anthrax vaccinations in coming months, the US Department of Defense (DoD) announced yesterday.

(CIDRAP News) – The possibility of a smallpox outbreak highlights a key threat to America's public health system: What if a person needs a vaccine but there is no nurse to give the shot?

America's growing shortage of qualified public health workers could undermine terrorism preparedness, according to a recent report from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO).

Jan 14, 2003 (CIDRAP News) – The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) says the present is an excellent time for states to prepare for the next influenza pandemic and has issued a report to help show the way.