Dr. Meryl Nass

An estimated 500,000 first responders, lab and hospital workers will receive smallpox vaccine, the DHHS announced yesterday.

This is an interesting announcement, because to my knowledge there exist no FDA-licensed smallpox vaccines.

There are three vaccine candidates whose safety and efficacy are uncertain at this time.

The first vaccine made available was Wyeth's Dryvax, which was pulled out of storage after approximately thirty years.

REASONS FOR OPPOSITION:

Researchers would not be required to first try approved treatments, if any exist, before entering the patient into a medical experiment that may be "risky."

Researchers would not be required to consult with an independent medical expert, a non-researcher who would consider the patient's best medical interests as paramount.

Researchers would not be required to disclose their own professional and financial interests deriving from the experiment.

Researchers would not be required to fully disclose to the patient's family what happened to other patients who had already participated in the experiment.

Dr. Jeffrey Levine, a psychiatrist from Albert Einstein dubbed this year's annual meeting in Philadelphia, "the American Psychiatric Association GlaxoSmithKline Convention."