
Treatment GuideJust DiagnosedSex & DatingAfrican AmericanStigmaAsk the HIV DocPrEP En EspañolNewsVoicesPrint IssueVideoOut 100
CONTACTCAREER OPPORTUNITIESADVERTISE WITH USPRIVACY POLICYPRIVACY PREFERENCESTERMS OF USELEGAL NOTICE
© 2025 Pride Publishing Inc.
All Rights reserved
All Rights reserved
By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use.
If President Bush's smallpox vaccination program is revived and vaccinations are extended to other health care workers and emergency responders--or to the public--emergency physicians and emergency medical staff will be on the front lines treating people who may suffer complications from them. But until now, emergency departments lacked policies or procedures to handle these complications. Based on the scientific literature available, occupational and environmental medicine physicians and emergency physicians have mapped out a template of policies and procedures in the November 2003 Annals of Emergency Medicine to prepare emergency departments to manage vaccine complications: 'Emergency Medicine Tools to Manage Smallpox [Vaccinia] Vaccination Complications: Clinical Practice Guideline and Policies and Procedures.' 'Considering the U.S. population might be offered smallpox vaccination in the next few years, it's imperative that emergency physicians and nurses be trained to know the likely signs and symptoms from vaccine complications they may encounter and know how to best manage them,' says lead author Craig D. Thorne, MD, MPH, from the Occupational and Environmental Health Program at the University of Maryland in Baltimore. 'Immunized workers need to know how to prevent inadvertent contact with active vaccination sites from their patients and to protect their patients and family members from exposures if the workers themselves have active sites.' Thorne and his team of researchers adapted materials provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and from additional scientific sources to assist emergency physicians and emergency medical staff in treating possible adverse reactions to the vaccine. The paper outlines the likelihood of complications based on those documented in the international and national literature dating back to the 1960s. 'Priority must be given to protect both our patients and our health care workers,' Thorne says. The study authors suggest that vaccinated physicians and health care workers consider alternative duty, which does not involve direct patient contact, while their vaccination sites are active. They outline several reasons, including the fact that patients in the 21st century may be at increased risk of transmitting the virus because of immune suppression from HIV infection, transplantation, cancer, immunosuppressant medications, and other illnesses. In addition, hospitals and health care workers' liability for vaccine complications, including inadvertent transfer to patients, remains unclear. 'These scientifically based policies and procedures for managing smallpox vaccine complications are something every emergency department has been waiting for,' says Capt. Robert G. Darling, MD, USN, from the Navy Medicine Office of Homeland Security and the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, which is based out of Fort Detrick, Md. 'We believe all the policies outlined by Thorne make good sense, except for one that recommends health care workers be removed from clinical duties after smallpox vaccination.' In a related editorial, Darling and a team of researchers call this policy recommendation 'unnecessary' because there have been no reported cases of transmission of vaccinia to a patient from the 19,333 civilian and military health care workers who were vaccinated in 2003. There also were no transmissions from vaccinated patients to health care workers. Darling further emphasized these 19,333 health care workers spent nearly 20,000 worker-months caring for patients, including those with a variety of immunocompromised conditions, yet no cases of transfer of the vaccinia virus were reported. 'Following this recommendation would be overly burdensome and expensive to enact and could cause hospitals to further delay or cancel their participation in the pre-event smallpox vaccination program,' Darling says. 'It would inhibit willing volunteers from participating and possibly further exacerbate the nationwide nursing shortage as well as delay the nation's preparedness for a smallpox release. No one can state with certainty what the actual risk of a terrorist release of weaponized smallpox is; however, if smallpox were released back into the world in 2003 the impact could be truly catastrophic. As always, the emergency medicine community will be front and center in any response, and it will be essential to have a cadre of previously vaccinated health care workers in place--ready to respond immediately. The evidence is in. With careful selection and counseling of smallpox vaccine recipients, we can safely vaccinate selected first responders and other members of the health care team while still protecting the health and lives of our other patients. We should begin preparing now.'
From our Sponsors
Most Popular
Lexi Love comes out as HIV+ after Trump deletes federal resources
January 23 2025 11:23 AM
Ricky Martin delivers showstopping performance for 2024 World AIDS Day
December 05 2024 12:08 PM
Trump's orders prompt CDC to erase HIV resources
January 31 2025 5:29 PM
Meet ​our Health Hero of the Year, Armonté Butler
October 21 2024 12:53 PM
California confirms first case of even more deadly mpox strain
November 18 2024 3:02 PM
This long-term HIV survivor says testosterone therapy helped save his life.
December 16 2024 8:00 PM
Plus: Featured Video
Latest Stories
Broadway's best raise over $1 million for LGBTQ+ and HIV causes
April 03 2025 7:15 PM
The Talk Season 5 premieres this spring with HIV guidance for the newly diagnosed
March 26 2025 1:00 PM
Discover the power of Wellness in your life
March 26 2025 12:41 PM
Season 4 of The Switch on resilience & radical self-love returns this spring
March 26 2025 12:20 PM
Jess King is here to help you live your happiest, healthiest life yet
March 24 2025 4:35 PM
BREAKING NEWS: Trump admin moves to end federal HIV prevention programs
March 18 2025 6:10 PM
Gerald Garth is keeping people of color happy and healthy through trying times
March 11 2025 3:38 PM
Celebrating Black History Month with our annual African American issue
February 01 2025 3:28 PM
Tyler TerMeer vows to continue to fight for health care for all
January 28 2025 3:00 PM
Plus nominated for 2025 GLAAD Media Award
January 22 2025 12:42 PM
A camp for HIV-positive kids is for sale. Here's why its founder is celebrating
January 02 2025 12:21 PM
'RuPaul's Drag Race' star Trinity K Bonet quietly comes out trans
December 15 2024 6:27 PM
AIDS Memorial Quilt displayed at White House for the first time
December 02 2024 1:21 PM
Decades of progress, uniting to fight HIV/AIDS
December 01 2024 12:30 PM
Hollywood must do better on HIV representation
December 01 2024 9:00 AM
Climate change is disrupting access to HIV treatment
November 25 2024 11:05 AM
Post-election blues? Some advice from mental health experts
November 08 2024 12:36 PM
Check out our 2024 year-end issue!
October 28 2024 2:08 PM
AIDS/LifeCycle is ending after more than 30 years
October 17 2024 12:40 PM
Twice-yearly injectable lenacapavir, an HIV-prevention drug, reduces risk by 96%
October 15 2024 5:03 PM