Medical DISers-Smallpox related

[Krisu]

I received a letter from my local Health Dept. asking if I would be interested in volunteering if the need arose to help with vaccinations. Has anyone gotten any info like this in your area? It took me by surprise and the first thing I thought of was many years ago there was a terrible flood in my area. My mother was helping to give Polio vaccine after (this was 1955) 10 days later she was diagnosed with it. She made a complete recovery thank God But that's the first thing I thought about.

 

[Blondie]

I work in a hospital and I was offered the vaccine.

I declined.

 

[tracyeliza]

I too work in an ER and declined yhe vaccine but mostly because of my allergic dermatitis I get every year. Some of my friends have recieved it. If I am exposed I will immediately be vaccinated. So far noone I know has had untoward effects. Is it overkill? Probably.....but one never knows.

 

[Kirby]

My sister-in-law, who is a nurse, said that you can have your blood tested to see if you are still immune. I really can't remember the terminology she used but that is basically what she said in understandable language. She had hers tested when she was having some bloodwork done and is still immune.

 

[browneyes]

No, I haven't gotten that info in my area. But I'm not a medical dis'er. My SIL and my brother both are, and I'm sure they haven't gotten that info either. My parents and my brothers had to get the vaccine, but they stopped requiring it in my area a couple of months before I was born. My brother used to tell me that was a sign that I'm not one of them-I don't have that round scar on my arm like they do. He tried to convince me I was found on the doorstep when I was younger.

Are you going to volunteer, Krisu?

 

[Krisu]

The thought of volunteering frightens me because they made it sound like it would be if there was a great threat It must be potent stuff to leave such a scar.

 

[Deb & Bill]

The last times they vaccinated people we didn't have so many immunocompromised people or people on steroids or with skin conditions or other health problems. If you have anyone in your family that you might care for with these type conditions, you should not be vaccinated unless it is post event, instead of pre-event. They are asking mostly older nurses and health care providers to be vaccinated in order to vaccinate others because they may still have some immunity from having the vaccine as a kid way back when.

Right now we only have 12 staff members vaccinated in our hospital (out of a staff of 1200) and they are only to care for any persons sick with smallpox, not to vaccinate people. The public health dept is responsible for that.

Reservists who are receiving the vaccine must keep it covered and dry. They even recommend that they do their own laundry and keep it separate from other family members. Until the scab falls off.

Public health says that about 20% of the people who are vaccinated have any reactions to the vaccination. Only about 5% have serious reactions to the vaccination which might include self vaccination to other parts of the body from contact with the live virus (such as around the eyes, face or other locations). They recommend that when the dressing is changed the old dressing is bagged (and sealed) and disposed of away from trash that family members might contact.

The virus is live, not dead like other vaccinations. That's why it is dangerous to persons who might be ill.

 

[Krisu]

I was vaccinated as a kid. Were all those precautions with the scab in effect then?

 

[Deb & Bill]

Yes, they used a live virus back then. But there were fewer people with these other conditions whose health is really at jeopardy with the smallpox virus.

 

[Krisu]

Thanks for the info

 

[Keli]

I received a small pox vacination but I don't have the big scar. They had changed the vacination by the time I came around and we just got a shot with one needle, not the gun thing.
My dh works at a hospital and has decided to take the vacination as soon as it's offered to them. I will feel better when he's protected from small pox. I would worry more about him catching something than from the potiental vacine complications. He caught TB years ago from a patient (they were able to determine from the virus which patient and everything) and had to take meds for a year.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Smallpox vaccination must be given with a multiple-stick type needle. They have to stick you (not all the way through the muscle, though) about 20 times to get it right. That's why you get a big old scab. It just scratches the surface of the skin.