Washington, DC - Congressman Edolphus “Ed” Towns (D-Brooklyn) or (NY-10) released a letter today requesting a federal investigation into whether the current rush to inoculate millions of local public health officials against smallpox is jeopardizing other bioterrorism priorities as well as basic health care functions traditionally undertaken by public health departments.

“No one would argue the fact that we have to do everything we can to be ready for a possible small pox attack,” Congressman Towns said  “However, as we move forward on inoculating public health officials and emergency personnel, we must make sure that we are not doing so at the expense of caring for actual, everyday public health needs,” explained Towns who is a former administrator at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City.   

On December 13, 2002 President Bush called on the public health community to inoculate as many as 10.5 million medical workers and emergency responders in anticipation of a possible bioterroism attack involving small pox.

However, according to a study performed by the National Association of County and City Health Officials, 79% of health departments surveyed indicated that small pox inoculation campaigns were siphoning staff time and money from other initiatives to protect the public from chemical, radiological and other biological agents such as botulism, the Ebola virus, and anthrax.  Additionally, more than half of the public health departments reported that they had “deferred, delayed or cancelled” traditional public health initiatives, which can involve prenatal care, check-ups for low-income children, flu vaccinations, AIDS prevention and tuberculosis tracking.

Towns noted that inoculation programs are just beginning.  So far, in New York City about 33 public health officials, emergency management personnel, and first responders have been inoculated.  The City expects to inoculate 15,000 public health and safety officials as part of its phase 1 inoculation plan. “If we don’t take a real good look at the problems and try to fix them now, our public health system will be in shambles when millions of officials across the country are getting inoculated.”
 
The letter released by Towns asks the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO), the investigative arm of Congress, to examine whether local health departments have diverted funds to meet the demands of small pox inoculations and if the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have exercised appropriate oversight of these programs.