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Thursday, Jan.9, 2002

DALLAS -- Many hospital officials across the nation have safety and liability concerns as the time approaches for healthcare workers to begin volunteering for smallpox vaccinations, officials said Wednesday.

There are questions about the safety of the vaccination, which has known side effects, the liability of hospitals under the program, and compensation for workers who might become ill from shots.

"We have about two weeks left and we hope the federal government will address some of these issues," said James Bentley, senior vice president of the Chicago-based American Hospital Association.

A survey in Tuesday's Denver Post found that nine of the 12 largest hospitals in Colorado might not send their workers to get vaccinations that may begin as early as Jan. 24, when the Homeland Security Act takes effect.

The new federal law addresses some of the liability questions but not all of them, according to Bentley. It appears to protect the person who gives the vaccine, the recipient or any third party at the hospital, but there are questions about other methods that might be used to give the shots.

"It makes more sense in some states to move the employees to a common location and have a health department do it," he said. "If you follow that model, then the hospital has no liability coverage because it wasn't a vaccine site or vaccine clinic."

Other questions surround state worker's compensation coverage for those who volunteer for the vaccinations and become ill. There's also nothing in the homeland security act that would provide a victim's fund for a volunteer who gets the disease.

"They, on behalf of the community, took the vaccine thinking that they would help protect all of us, yet if a nurse or physician in the emergency room should get it, there is nothing to say we are going to help out that family," he said.

Bentley said there are also hospitals that want more facts about the vaccine, its side effects and the risks to the public when there is no confirmed case of smallpox.

"There are going to be people who will be reluctant to take it if they don't have good, clear answers and I don't blame them," he said.

In Colorado, Larry Wall, president of the Colorado Hospital and Health Association, said as eligible health workers hear more about the smallpox vaccine there appears to be a declining number who would volunteer for the shots.

"It's my understanding that the military began giving this vaccine to their first responders and key players a month and a half ago, but there has been absolutely nothing out there with regard to what their experience has been," he said.

Wall suggested that information would help those eligible health workers make their personal choice on the vaccinations. The information would also help hospital officials make decisions on their work schedules to allow employees to get the vaccinations.

Wall said another concern is secondary exposure. Some health workers are worried about the contagious scab that the shot creates because it could pose additional risks to their families and patients in the hospital.

Colorado plans to vaccinate about 1,400 health workers as part of the federal program to prepare the nation's first responders in case of a bioterrorism attack against the nation.

None of the officials would speculate on how many healthcare workers will actually respond when the vaccination program begins later this month or early in February.

Copyright 2003 by United Press International.

All rights reserved.

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Editor's note:
"Scourge: The Once and Future Threat of Smallpox"
"Living Terrors: Surviving the Coming Bioterrorist Catastrophe"

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