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Smallpox vaccination policy: Part II--preparedness begins. (Health Policy Update).

Article Excerpt
To begin preparing the nation for a smallpox bioterrorist attack, President George W. Bush announced his plan to begin revaccinating the American people. Vaccination for the civilian population is voluntary while it is mandatory for selected members of the military. Bush also received the vaccine as Commander in Chief.

The civilian component of the plan as proposed has three phases.

1. Phase one consists of two categories of emergency teams: public health response and hospital response.

2. Phase two will include all health care and other emergency response workers.

3. Phase three will cover all Americans.

The president proposed that phase one, which started in January, is to be followed shortly by phase two. He did not recommend the initiation of phase three at this time although there is a provision to allow access to vaccine for citizens who demand receiving the vaccine under certain conditions. The military component of the phase one plan began immediately.

Pre-event vaccination

Phase one will include as many as 500,000 people and will use a fully licensed vaccine. The public health response teams are to be trained and prepared to respond 24/7 and would be available to go to the site where a suspected case of smallpox is located and make a definitive diagnosis.

The team would also be able to begin the disease containment process (vaccination and isolation) as well as the epidemiological investigation. These teams will include physicians, nurses, epidemiologists, laboratory personnel and support staff to include public safety and legal staff.

Hospital response teams would include up to 200...