Study on smallpox vaccination begins

AORN Journal,  Feb, 2003  

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In October 2002, volunteers between the ages of 32 and 70 were revaccinated against smallpox as part of a study of the effectiveness of different dilutions of the vaccine, according to an Oct 15, 2002, news release from Kaiser Permanente, Oakland, Calif. A consortium is evaluating the effectiveness of vaccines manufactured three decades ago. In the summer of 2002, scientists found that two such vaccines, when diluted, were effective in people who had never received a smallpox vaccine.

Scientists are trying to determine whether vaccines from the 1970s can produce protective responses in people who previously have received the smallpox vaccine. They also want to know whether this older vaccine can be diluted to increase the supply. Concerns have arisen due to bioterrorist anthrax attacks that occurred in the United States in 2001.

Routine smallpox vaccination ceased in 1971 in the United States. In 1981, the world was declared smallpox free, and routine vaccination ceased worldwide. Stores of smallpox, however, are kept in a few places around the world and could be used in biowarfare.

Most Americans older than 35 years of age received the smallpox vaccination as children. Scientists, however, are unsure whether they still have immunity or how they would respond to revaccination.

Kaiser Permanente Research: Second Smallpox Vaccine Study Begins in Oakland (news release, Oakland, Calif: Kaiser Permanente, Oct 15, 2002)h#p://www.kaiserpermanente.org/ newsroom/releases/101502.html (accessed 29 Dec 2002).

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