Smallpox Vaccination Hospital and Field Health Personnel

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE
Public Health Service
Health Services Administration
Indian Health Service
Rockville, Maryland

INDIAN HEALTH SERVICE CIRCULAR NO. 76-02

1. BACKGROUND.  Until recently public health advisors and the policy of the Indian Health Service recommended that all hospital and field health personnel be vaccinated against smallpox if not done previously and revaccinated every three years. Precautions and procedures regarding this subject were promulgated in Indian Health Circular No. 75-8 of July 17, 1975. Recently progress in the eradication of smallpox has led the Center for Disease Control to issue new recommendations in this regard, no longer recommending systematic programs of routine vaccination of hospital and health personnel.

2. POLICY.  Since the risk of smallpox importation into the United States is now essentially nil, the Indian Health Service no longer recommends systematic programs of routine vaccination of hospital and health personnel.  Vaccination is still necessary for travelers going to countries that require valid International Certificates of Vaccination, for travelers who have been in Ethiopia in the 2 weeks before returning to the United States, and for personnel of laboratories working with variola virus.

3. REFERENCES.  ?Morbidity and Mortality? Weekly Report, Center for Disease Control, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Public Health Service, Vol. 25, No. 2, January 17, 1976.

4. SUPERSESSION.  This Circular supersedes Circular No. 75-8 dated July 17, 1975, and Circular No. 66-6 dated September 8, 1966.