The Evanston Health Department plans to inoculate eligible hospital personnel for smallpox, Evanston health officials said. The move follows President Bush’s call to vaccinate certain at-risk groups as part of his anti-terrorism strategy.
City and county officials are still discussing the logistics of the process. Health and Human Services Director Jay Terry said doctors from St. Francis and Evanston Hospitals in Evanston and Rush North Shore Medical Center in Skokie will probably be vaccinated along with Evanston and Skokie health department workers in Evanston. Cook County officials will distribute the vaccine, but Evanston officials have yet to determine where it will be available.
Bush’s plan, announced Dec. 13, outlines several stages of vaccinations, the first being U.S. troops in high-risk areas. Hospital and “first response” employees such as rescue workers follow, with the general public vaccinated last.
Doctors, emergency room and intensive care workers would be first among health care workers to receive the vaccine. Evanston Northwestern Healthcare spokeswoman Michelle Mastri said the organization has drafted and submitted a plan to vaccinate Evanston hospital personnel but will not publicly announce the plan until federal guidelines are established and the plan is approved by state officials.
The city has not been told the number of vaccinations it can administer, Terry said. The Illinois Public Health Department asked the hospitals and health department to submit plans for carrying out the inoculations.
Evanston Northwestern Healthcare employs about 7,500 people, Mastri said. About 3,000 work at Evanston Hospital, and the rest work at hospitals in Glenview, Ill., and Highland Park, Ill. St. Francis hospital officials could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Terry said the city will not offer vaccinations to the public for some time, probably the end of this year.
The smallpox vaccine has not been administered since 1972, and the disease was declared eradicated in 1980 by the World Health Organization. Although the Bush administration has said it has no information that a smallpox attack is imminent, Bush said the United States has enough of the vaccine stockpiled to inoculate every American if the country were attacked.
The American public has voiced apprehensions about the vaccine because of its potentially deadly side effects. About 15 people per 1 million vaccinated will experience life-threatening side effects from the vaccine, and one or two may die as a result, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. But Evanston health officials said they haven’t heard opposition to the plan.
The Center for Disease Control said the vaccination is highly effective in preventing smallpox, especially for the first 3-5 years after inoculation. But no one knows if the existing inoculation, which is decades old, will still protect against the disease.
Statistics about the likelihood of adverse side effects from smallpox vaccinations were gathered in 1968. Data suggest that adverse reaction rates may be higher in 2003 because of the increased number of people carrying the HIV virus, and receiving cancer treatments and organ transplants that weaken the immune system, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. But the outcomes of adverse effects might be less severe because of improved medical practices and treatment.
