Addressing the Smallpox Threat

Slide Presentation by William Raub, Ph.D.

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On March 3, 2003, William Raub, Ph.D. made a presentation in the Web-Assisted Audioconference entitled Addressing the Smallpox Threat: Issues, Strategies, and Tools.

The is the text version of Dr. Raub's slide presentation. Select to access the PowerPoint® slides (52 KB).

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Smallpox Vaccination Campaign: A Federal Perspective

William Raub, Ph.D.
Deputy Assistant Secretary
Office of Public Health Emergency Preparedness
Department of Health and Human Services

Slide 1

Smallpox: The #1 Bio-Threat

• Highly lethal
• Readily communicable
• Few people have effective immunity
• No established treatment
• US enemies believed to have variola virus

Slide 2

Scope of the Current Smallpox Vaccination Campaign

Program is entirely voluntary.

• Stage 1 – Epidemiological response teams
• Stage 2 – Other health care workers; public safety personnel
• Stage 3 – Private citizens who "insist"

Slide 3

Rationale for Current Approach

• Vaccine highly effective but can provoke serious adverse effects
• Offer vaccination opportunity to those with highest occupational risk
• US prepared to vaccinate widely in response to actual smallpox outbreak

Slide 4

Major Issues Associated with the Vaccination Program

• Logistics and costs of Stage 2
• Absence of guaranteed compensation for vaccine-related injuries

Current as of July 2003

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Internet Citation:

Preparedness Issues for the Local Level. Text Version of a Slide Presentation at a Web-assisted Audioconference. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/news/ulp/smpoxtele/sess1/raubtxt.htm

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