CDC: Transplant Recipients and Family Members Should Not Be Vaccinated

While transplant recipients on immunosuppressive medications and their family members are not eligible for smallpox vaccination in the voluntary plan unveiled by the Bush Administration, health officials said they would be able to receive smallpox vaccine under certain conditions in the event of a bioterrorist attack.

Officials of the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said transplant recipients -- and members of their immediate families -- are being excluded from the first round of voluntary smallpox vaccinations "to help avoid serious adverse effects."

Those being vaccinated in the first round -- smallpox response teams, health workers and first responders in the voluntary program -- will receive a vaccine called Dryvax, which has been used for decades to combat smallpox.

Dryvax uses a live vaccina virus similar to smallpox which can cause large, oozing lesions spreading from the site of the vaccine, especially in people with immune system problems or severe skin problems, and it can be life-threatening.

Family members of transplant patients also are being urged not to seek vaccination because for about three weeks, the site on the upper arm can shed the live virus used in the vaccine and infect others who come into contact with it.

No one who lives with a person at high risk should be vaccinated, said Dr. Lisa Rotz, a CDC epidemiologist.

But Dr. Tony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, said that if there were a bioterrorist attack using smallpox, transplant recipients and family members "would be able to receive the vaccine under special precautionary conditions which include the ready availability of Vaccinia Immune Globulin, or what we refer to as VIG, V-I-G.

"VIG is produced by deriving gamaglobulin, a serum protein, from the plasma of people who have been recently vaccinated with smallpox vaccine. This gamaglobulin possesses protective activity against vaccinia and has been successfully used to dampen certain of the adverse events associated with smallpox vaccination," he added.

Fauci said the government currently has approximately 2,000 doses of VIG available. By the end of January there will be about 4,500 does and about 30,000 by summer.

Other sources: NIH, Centers for Disease Control