I think the new vaccine is at least as good as the old vaccine. I guess the most generous interpretation of this is to say that, the estimated 1,000 deaths that would follow from immunizing the entire population might have been justified when smallpox was a concrete (natural) threat, but, in the face of a
hypothetical threat, it's a tough call, and waiting till after an attack might be a better strategy.
Another interpretation, which I have suggested, is that the remote, hypothetical smallpox threat makes a convenient cover story or stalking horse for rolling out civil defense measures against the very concrete threat presented in the anthrax letters, and presented by Saddam Hussein's known heavy investment in anthrax as a poor man's alternative to nukes. I don't want to oversell this, because I think the first interpretation is arguable, but I couldn't help but be amused by the CDC director's apparent freudian slip during the interview, substituting "anthrax" for "smallpox." It does fit with my idea that their is a disconnect between what these people are worried about behind the scenes, and the comfortably hypothetical proxy threats they talk about in public (smallpox, suitcase nukes, dirty nukes, etc.)
With half us already "vetted" with the old vaccine which I am told is remarkably strong even after forty or fifty years, and the other half selectively immunized in pockets where attacks have occured... there would probably not be nearly as many as 1000 dead, I am guessing. More like 250 sick, with a few immuno deficiency types and elderly "already on death's door" being at risk of death... probably LESS than the west nile virus deaths.
Their goal is not just our death... it's to cripple our commerce and infrastructure... They are terrified of our ability to work and make a living... and export FREEDOM to the world. The world they think is THEIRS... to rule over.