Media Release

For Immediate Release
Date: March 13, 2003
Contact Person: Robert Marshall, Ph.D. 401-222-1017

Health Department Implements Smallpox Vaccination Program

PROVIDENCE, RI--The vaccination of a strategic reserve of Rhode Island heath care and public safety workers against smallpox begins on Thursday, March 13, 2003. The Rhode Island Department of Health (HEALTH) announced the start-up at a media conference held today. A dozen hospital-based nurses will be the first to receive smallpox vaccinations at Memorial Hospital’s Center for Biodefense and Emerging Pathogens (CBEP), which provides this service under a contract with HEALTH

The health and public safety workers (up to 1200) receiving vaccine during this phase of the federal program comprise a "strategic reserve." They will provide 24-hour hospital emergency room coverage, administer vaccine, staff a smallpox hospital, transport patients and assure site security if there should ever be a case of smallpox in Rhode Island. Due to the large number of burn victims from the Station nightclub fire under treatment, RI Hospital staff will not participate in the first round of vaccinations.

"Each volunteer goes through a strict medical screening to minimize the possibility of side effects," explains Patricia A. Nolan, MD, MPH, Director of the RI Department of Health (HEALTH). "We plan to follow these volunteers closely over the next three or four weeks to assure that the program is both safe and effective."

Smallpox vaccine contains a live virus called vaccinia, which can cause side effects such as itching, rashes and, rarely, encephalitis. The risk of side effects increases if the volunteer suffers from certain skin conditions, burns or immune disorders such as lupus or HIV-AIDS. The screening process requires a negative HIV test and, for women of childbearing age, a negative pregnancy test.

It takes three to four weeks for a vaccination site to scar and heal. Until then, contact with the sore could spread the vaccination virus to others. Thus, those vaccinated must live in households also free of the contraindications. This limits the number of available volunteers.

Rhode Island’s last case of smallpox occurred in 1927. General vaccination in the United States stopped in 1972. The World Health Organization eradicated smallpox from the entire world in 1977. However, smallpox was proposed as a biological weapon during the 1980s and may have gotten into the hands of those willing to use it. Plans exist to vaccinate the entire population of Rhode Island in an emergency.