Pre-event willingness to receive smallpox vaccine among physicians and public safety personnel.

Background: Planning for voluntary smallpox vaccination of health and safety officials began in December 2002.

Materials And Methods: Surveys were conducted among physicians and fire and police department personnel in Atlanta, Georgia. Information on demographics, willingness to receive smallpox vaccine, self-reported knowledge level, and potential vaccine contraindications was analyzed.

Results: Forty-one percent of physicians (n = 199) were undecided on vaccination (32% would receive vaccine and 27% would not). Forty-eight percent of firefighters (n = 343) and 41% of police (n = 466) were undecided; 23% and 41% would receive vaccine, whereas 28% and 18% would not (fire and police, respectively). Absence of contraindications was associated with physicians' willingness to be vaccinated (P = 0.006). Many physicians (66%) and most public safety personnel (88%) considered themselves inadequately informed on smallpox vaccine. In a multivariate analysis, inadequately informed respondents were more likely to be undecided (OR = 2.23, CI = 1.39 to 3.56).

Conclusions: Before implementation of the smallpox vaccination program, self-assessed knowledge about smallpox disease and vaccine were poor.