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Senate panel OKs smallpox measure Compensates workers hurt, killed by vaccine Sheryl Gay Stolberg, New York Times Thursday, April 3, 2003 ©2003 San Francisco Chronicle | Feedback URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi? f=/c/a/2003/04/03/MN296479.DTL Washington -- With hospitals and health care workers around the country refusing to join the Bush administration's smallpox vaccination program, a Senate committee approved a measure on Wednesday to compensate workers disabled or killed by the shots. The 11-10 vote was along party lines on the Republican-backed measure and came after the committee rejected several Democratic amendments to make the bill more generous. Democrats vowed to fight for a more expansive benefits package once the measure reaches the Senate floor. "It's a tin-cup response to a major kind of health threat, and it insults first responders in this country," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., who offered the amendments. The measure is intended to encourage vaccination among health care and emergency workers who might respond to an attack using the deadly smallpox virus. The chief sponsor of the measure, Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., said the measure was urgently needed. "This is not a legal issue," said Gregg, chairman of the panel, the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. "This is not a health issue. This is a national security issue." Gregg noted that the bill's $262,100 lump sum death benefit was the same amount paid to police officers killed in the line of duty, and was more than the $256,000 lump sum paid to a soldier who might be killed in battle in Iraq. But the measure is less generous than one defeated last week by the House. While both the House and Senate measures would pay $262,100 to those permanently disabled or killed from vaccination, the House bill caps compensation for lost wages at that amount. The Senate cap is $50,000. Smallpox was eradicated two decades ago. But many experts believe rogue nations, including Iraq, continue to maintain illicit stocks of the smallpox virus. Last year, after months of internal debate, President Bush announced a voluntary program to inoculate as many as 439,000 doctors, nurses and emergency workers who would be the first to respond if terrorists obtain the smallpox virus and introduce it into the United States. Kennedy said that so far, only 25,000 people had been vaccinated. That is mostly because of fears about the safety of the vaccine, which is made from a live virus that is a cousin to smallpox and can cause serious complications and even death. Ten states have suspended vaccinations, lawmakers said. Last week, federal health officials announced that seven health care workers had developed cardiac problems after being vaccinated, and that two of them had died of heart attacks. Calling the vaccination program "an absolute disaster," Kennedy predicted that things would not improve if the Senate bill passed intact, leading to a contentious exchange with Gregg, seated beside him. When Kennedy described the measure as an insult to first responders, Gregg shot back, "It's not an insult. It's a genuine attempt to try to address the issue." ©2003 San Francisco Chronicle | Feedback Page A - 4 Forwarded for your information. The text and intent of the article have to stand on their own merits. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe simply because it has been handed down for many genera- tions. 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