From: Hjfasufi@...
Subject: Long lines for flu shots, but no shortage of smallpox vaccine

Long lines for flu shots, but no shortage of smallpox vaccine

As of Oct. 31, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
reported
59 cases of adverse events associated with the vaccine, including 21 cases
of
myocarditis or pericarditis and one case of encephalitis, a potentially
fatal
inflammation of the brain or central nervous system.

The CDC reported another 107 serious adverse events that may or may not have
been caused by the vaccine. Meanwhile, Defense Department officials
reported 82
cases of myocarditis and pericarditis since December 2002, when the military
began mandatory smallpox vaccinations for selected personnel.

Military officials also reviewed seven deaths among the more than 700,000
personnel who have received the vaccine and say three people have received
vaccinia
immuneglobulin, which is injected or given intravenously to treat
serious adverse reactions. As in the military, some civilians have died
after receiving the
smallpox vaccine, including Deerheart Cornitcher,55, a nurse at Peninsula
Regional Medical Center in Salisbury, Md. "I don't think that helped us,"
Prue
Albright, director of public health nursing in Delaware, said of
Cornitcher's
death.

Health officials knew that the vaccine, made with a live virus,carried a
small risk of life-threatening complications, but they were surprised by
reports of
heart attacks and cases of myocarditis and pericarditis, inflammations of
the
heart and surrounding membrane, after people were vaccinated."

Randi Airola
517-819-5926