There's a definite cause for concern regarding chemical and biological warfare. We've all heard the horror stories of smallpox on TV. Suppose that the vaccine is made available to the general public. Would you or your family be one of the ones in line for vaccination?<br><br><br><br>
Consider this:<br><br><br><br>
As the smallpox vaccine has some nasty side-effects, vaccinating the entire population would not be painless. Approximately 1 out of every 150,000 people would contract severe, debilitating infections and another 1 in 500,000 people would die from the vaccine. So, if all 280 million Americans were vaccinated, more than 500 would almost certainly die. Suddenly, mass vaccination looks less appealing. Taken from: Weighing the risks of a vaccine for smallpox by Howard Fienberg<br><br><br><br>
read the whole article here<br><br><a href="http://www.stats.org/statswork/smallpox.htm" target="_blank">http://www.stats.org/statswork/smallpox.htm</a><br><br><br><br>
This is definitely raises the question is the risk worth the cure?<br><br><br><br>
(As a side note, their site has very interesting statistical info)
Consider this:<br><br><br><br>
As the smallpox vaccine has some nasty side-effects, vaccinating the entire population would not be painless. Approximately 1 out of every 150,000 people would contract severe, debilitating infections and another 1 in 500,000 people would die from the vaccine. So, if all 280 million Americans were vaccinated, more than 500 would almost certainly die. Suddenly, mass vaccination looks less appealing. Taken from: Weighing the risks of a vaccine for smallpox by Howard Fienberg<br><br><br><br>
read the whole article here<br><br><a href="http://www.stats.org/statswork/smallpox.htm" target="_blank">http://www.stats.org/statswork/smallpox.htm</a><br><br><br><br>
This is definitely raises the question is the risk worth the cure?<br><br><br><br>
(As a side note, their site has very interesting statistical info)