NYC mayor receives smallpox vaccine
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Mayor Bloomberg, right, receives a smallpox vaccine Wednesday.
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SPECIAL REPORT
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NEW YORK (CNN) -- New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg received a smallpox vaccination at City Hall Wednesday to kick off the city's voluntary vaccine program for key workers.
Five city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene workers also were vaccinated, the first of what the city hopes will be 5,000 to 10,000 public health, public safety and health care workers who will be vaccinated by the end of May.
The program is part of a nationwide effort to inoculate people who would be the first to respond in the event of a biological-weapon attack.
"Even though we are not requiring any city employees to receive a smallpox vaccination, many potential first responders will choose to do so, and I don't want them to take any risks that I would not take myself," Bloomberg said in a written release.
The vaccination carries a risk of reactions, including death. The National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases has estimated that for every million inoculations, there will be one or two deaths, 14 to 52 life-threatening reactions and as many as 900 serious but not life-threatening reactions. Some doctors have given higher estimates.
But the Department of Defense said three weeks ago that only two Army soldiers out of "tens of thousands" who had received the smallpox vaccination had shown a "noteworthy" reaction.
Smallpox was eradicated in 1972 and since then the vaccine has not been routinely administered.
