December 13, 2002, the president of the United States announced that smallpox vaccination would be offered to some categories of civilians and administered to members of the military and government representatives in high-risk areas of the world. The events that precipitated that historic announcement included a series of terrorist attacks during the 1990s, which culminated in the catastrophic events of 2001. Although preparedness for deliberate attacks with biologic weapons was already the subject of much public health planning, meetings, and publications as the twentieth century neared its end, the events of 2001 led to a steep rise in bioterrorism-related government policies and funding, and in state and local preparedness activities, for example, in public health, health care, and the emergency response and public safety communities. The national smallpox vaccination program is but one of many efforts to improve readiness to respond to deliberate releases of biologic agents. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) Committee on Smallpox Vaccination Program Implementation was convened in October 2002 at the request of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the federal agency charged with implementing the government's policy of providing smallpox vaccine first to public health and health care workers on response teams, then to all interested health care workers and other first responders, and finally to members of the general public who might insist on receiving the vaccine. The committee was charged with providing "advice to the CDC and the program investigators on selected aspects of the smallpox program implementation and evaluation." The committee met six times over 19 months and wrote a series of brief "letter" reports. The Smallpox Vaccination Program: Public Health in an Age of Terrorism constitutes the committee's seventh and final report, and the committee hopes that it will fulfill three purposes: 1) To serve as an archival document that brings together the six reports addressed to Julie Gerberding, director of CDC, and previously released on line and as short, unbound papers; 2) To serve as a historical document that summarizes milestones in the smallpox vaccination program, and; 3) To comment on the achievement of overall goals of the smallpox vaccination program (in accordance with the last item in the charge), including lessons learned from the program.

At the World Health Assembly in May 1980, the World Health Organization declared the world free of smallpox. Smallpox vaccination of civilians is now indicated only for laboratory workers directly involved with smallpox or closely related orthopox viruses. However recent questions raised by the terrorist attacks in fall 2001 have renewed concerns about possible outbreaks of smallpox resulting from its use as a biological weapon. In June 2002, the Institute of Medicine convened a public conference to discuss the scientific, clinical, procedural, and administrative aspects of various immunization strategies. Scientific and Policy Considerations in Developing Smallpox Vaccination Options summarizes the presentations and discussions from this workshop.

This electronic version has been made available under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) open access license. This book is available as an open access ebook under a CC-BY-NC-ND licence. Vaccinating Britain shows how the British public has played a central role in the development of vaccination policy since the Second World War. It explores the relationship between the public and public health through five key vaccines – diphtheria, smallpox, poliomyelitis, whooping cough and measles-mumps-rubella (MMR). It reveals that while the British public has embraced vaccination as a safe, effective and cost-efficient form of preventative medicine, demand for vaccination and trust in the authorities that provide it has ebbed and flowed according to historical circumstances. It is the first book to offer a long-term perspective on vaccination across different vaccine types. This history provides context for students and researchers interested in present-day controversies surrounding public health immunisation programmes. Historians of the post-war British welfare state will find valuable insight into changing public attitudes towards institutions of government and vice versa.

The seventh edition of the Canadian Immunization Guide was developed by the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI), with the support ofthe Immunization and Respiratory Infections Division, Public Health Agency of Canada, to provide updated information and recommendations on the use of vaccines in Canada. The Public Health Agency of Canada conducted a survey in 2004, which confi rmed that the Canadian Immunization Guide is a very useful and reliable resource of information on immunization.

The Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) is a large, linked database of patient information that was developed jointly by CDC and several private managed care organizations in 1991. It includes data on vaccination histories, health outcomes, and characteristics of more than 7 million patients of eight participating health organizations. Researchers from CDC and the managed care groups have used VSD information to study whether health problems are associated with vaccinations. The subsequent VSD data sharing program was launched in 2002 to allow independent, external researchers access to information in the database. In this report, the committee that was asked to review aspects of this program recommends that two new oversight groups are needed to ensure that the policies and procedures of the VSD and its data sharing program are implemented as fairly and openly as possible.

Vaccination is a fundamental component of preventive medicine and public health. The use of vaccines to prevent infectious diseases has resulted in dramatic decreases in disease, disability, and death in the United States and around the world. The current political, economic, and social environment presents both opportunities for and challenges to strengthening the U.S. system for developing, manufacturing, regulating, distributing, funding, and administering safe and effective vaccines for all people. Priorities for the National Vaccine Plan examines the extraordinarily complex vaccine enterprise, from research and development of new vaccines to financing and reimbursement of immunization services. Priorities for the National Vaccine Plan examines the extraordinarily complex vaccine enterprise, from research and development of new vaccines to financing and reimbursement of immunization services. The book makes recommendations about priority actions in the update to the National Vaccine Plan that are intended to achieve the objectives of disease prevention and enhancement of vaccine safety. It is centered on the plan's five goals in the areas of vaccine development, safety, communication, supply and use, and global health.