What has the CDCs Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommended regarding the use of smallpox vaccine?
• At this time, ACIP does not recommend vaccination of the general public, as the potential benefits of the vaccine do not outweigh the risks of adverse events. • ACIP continued to recommend so-called “ring vaccination” also referred to as “search and containment.” • For the past year, ACIP has supported ring vaccination as the most efficient use of smallpox vaccine with the fewest number of adverse side effects. The strategy is based on information that vaccination within three to four days of contact with an infectious case can prevent or lessen the severity of the disease. • In the ring vaccination strategy, contacts of people with smallpox and contacts of these contacts would be vaccinated immediately. This would form concentric “rings” of immunized people around infectious cases (who would be isolated). This will reduce the chance of transmission to susceptible people. • The committee also recommended that selected personnel, those who would care for patients at predesignated smal
