ATLANTA - Grady Memorial Hospital has opted out of a state and nationwide campaign to vaccinate health care workers against smallpox as a precaution against bioterrorism. <br>
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``Grady has balanced the known dangers of the smallpox vaccine, which can in some instances cause serious side effects, against the unlikely risk of exposure to the smallpox virus,'' spokeswoman Karen Frashier said Monday. <br>
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In the event of imminent danger of smallpox transmission, Grady ``would move rapidly to vaccinate health care workers,'' Frashier said. <br>
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The decision came three days after President Bush opened voluntary vaccination to emergency workers and two weeks after the state Division of Public Health said Grady would be one of the first Georgia hospitals offered the vaccine. <br>
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Dr. Kathleen Toomey, the state health director, said she was not concerned by Grady's position. <br>
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``I think it's a reflection of the fact that we have done our job in making people realize that this vaccination is voluntary,'' Toomey said. ``We are not strong-arming them in any way.'' <br>
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The federal government decided to relaunch vaccination against smallpox, which has not been used in the United States since 1972, based on fears that terrorists might use the highly infectious, frequently fatal disease as a weapon. <br>
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The federal smallpox policy, announced Friday, calls for mandatory vaccination for about 510,000 military personnel and voluntary vaccination for about 440,000 civilian smallpox-response teams and emergency-room staff. <br>
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For every 1 million vaccinations, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates, there will be one to two deaths; 14 to 52 life-threatening reactions, including gangrene, encephalitis and severe skin infections; and 50 to 900 other side effects, such as rashes, fevers and viral eruptions far from the vaccination site.
