Local Health Meeting On Smallpox Preparation

Local health officials are meeting next week to talk about the dangers of and preparation for a possible terrorist attack using smallpox.

Kathy Amos with the Tuolumne County Health Department says vaccinations for local health care workers could begin in March. Amos adds that our proximity to Sacramento and San Francisco is cause for concern. She says if there was a smallpox attack in one of those cities, the virus could easily spread here because it is highly communicable.

Even though there´s no cost to local governments for the vaccine itself, Amos says there would be some cost for manpower to distribute it. There could also be major costs if someone were to have an adverse reaction to the vaccine.

The Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors will allow the public to comment on this at its February 25th meeting.