Germany to Stockpile Smallpox Vaccine

German Times ^ | January 15 2003 | AP

[knighthawk]

BERLIN (AP) — Germany plans to stockpile enough smallpox vaccine by the end of the year to protect its entire population of 82 million from a terrorist attack with the virus, the government said Wednesday.

The government has 36 million doses of the vaccine and will increase that to 100 million this year, Health Minister Ulla Schmidt said. The program's cost has been estimated at up to $169 million.

Schmidt emphasized it was being launched as a precaution, not in response to a specific threat.

``We all hope that we will never be forced to use the vaccine,'' she told reporters.

Authorities would begin a vaccinating people, starting with health and emergency workers, the moment a case of smallpox appears anywhere in the world, Schmidt said. The World Health Organization declared the disease eradicated in 1979.

Germany launched the vaccine purchases after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, buying 25 million doses in 2001. Eleven million more were procured last year, an additional 30 million are to be delivered by April and the rest are to follow by the end of this year.

Smallpox last appeared in nature in Somalia in 1977.

All stocks of smallpox virus were supposed to have been destroyed except for samples in two official labs in Russia and the United States. But experts fear hostile nations or terrorist groups may have the virus and could use it in an attack.

[knighthawk]

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[knighthawk]

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[aristeides]

According to The Demon in the Freezer, the smallpox vaccine Germany had in the 1960's was ineffective.

[Prodigal Son]

You know, what's interesting here is, Germany in this fashion is admitting that terrorism and weapons of mass destruction are a big problem. Ordering up a 100 million doses of a vaccine has got to be expensive and the Germans don't exactly play 'loose and free' with their money (believe me, I live with one). So, here, they're saying "Yes, this is a very serious problem" but on the other hand they are against attacking the problem at its source.

[knighthawk]

Political correctness kills.

[Michael81Dus]

We call that ambiguous - often seen at Social Democrats or Green Party members... on the one hand they damn the military (and reduce the defense budget), on the other they send soldiers to Kabul, Kosovo, Bosnia or horn of Africa.

I´m glad that my government decided to do so... if the worst case comes, WE will survive.

[pepsionice]

The Germans don't make massive or costly changes in life easily. And they certainly don't change a 'routine' once it is established...unless they really think its necessary. So if they spent this money, obviously, they have some extreme knowledge available that some nut has smallpox and is ready to use it. The trouble will be getting the public to accept this idea and get the whole population shot-up. I doubt that you will get more than 60 percent of the population to agree on this shot.