Back in December, Dubya made a big hairy deal about smallpox vaccinations for military personnel and emergency response teams among medical professionals:
We believe that regimes hostile to the United States may possess this dangerous virus. To protect our citizens in the aftermath of September the 11th, we are evaluating old threats in a new light. Our government has no information that a smallpox attack is imminent. Yet it is prudent to prepare for the possibility that terrorists would kill indiscriminately -- who kill indiscriminately would use diseases as a weapon.
George even got one himself, reminding us that he was ready to step up to his obligation as Commander-in-Chief.
The part of the plan that called for the inoculation of 500,000 military personnel proceeded without much fuss. The planned inoculation of 500,000 first responder healthcare workers is a different story.
Many were concerned that the risks associated with the vaccine weren’t adequately justified; others refused to be vaccinated without a pre-established compensation fund for those who suffered ill effects (the Bush administration’s initial response: workers’ comp can cover it, or you can sue the federal government for negligence). Ultimately, Bush signed a compensation plan, but in the meantime local governments struggled with the costs associated with the program and a shortage of federal funds.
As of the beginning of June - with the program in place for five months - 36,217 healthcare workers had been vaccinated.
A quarter of those are in Florida, Texas, and Tennessee.
So we have two possibilities here:
1) The inoculations are necessary for the safety of the American people, in which case the Bush administration has failed to carry out a vital program, or
2) The inoculations aren’t necessary, and Bush values fear-mongering, manipulative hype more than the health of American citizens.
Guess which one we’d pick.
