The genetic sequence information is stored in computer memory banks, but the surviving stocks of the smallpox virus, scheduled for destruction this year, have been preserved and it's disposal postponed (for bio-terror.)

If Saddam Hussein, or any terrorist cell acquires smallpox, it can ONLY have come from these sources, which are under strictest security.

The CDC has announced it will vaccinate the entire population of the US in the event of an outbreak of the virus only they possess and should have destroyed.

Vaccines would be made available to states, and also calls on states to establish large vaccination sites and ISOLATED PLACES to take people who may have contracted the virus. As many as 75 million doses of the vaccine could be shipped in a single day.

The CDC document gets into some of the nuts-and-bolts that such a large operation would entail, including how many people should work at each clinic; which supplies would be needed; how to inform the public of vaccination plans; and how people with various health conditions might be affected by the vaccine.

It also says that those who will work at the clinics should be vaccinated in order to protect against exposure.
The clinics would also need a good deal of security, the manual says, with only "locked, limited access" to the vaccine.

The government has chosen not to vaccinate the U.S. population unless there is an attack, because the vaccination also carries dangers. If the entire population were to receive the vaccine, an estimated 300 to 350 people could die.

But federal officials are not saying how many cases of smallpox it would take to put the vaccination plan into action. The CDC said that if a single case of smallpox is found, federal, state, and local health officials will discuss the situation and determine how to proceed.
Beefing up past plan

The manual is an updated version of a smallpox response plan the government first released last November. The previous version called for "ring vaccination," in which health officials would vaccinate people in the area surrounding the site of an outbreak, then steadily work their way outward.

The rapid national vaccination strategy in the version released Monday will be a "complement" to ring vaccination, the CDC said.

The plan would cost between $5 and $10 per person, an expense to be picked up by local health departments.
Health officials have enough vaccine for 155 million people, more than half the U.S. population. By the end of the year they expect to have enough for all 288 million Americans.

If there were an outbreak of smallpox before the end of the year, health officials said, they would still be able to obtain enough vaccine.

 http://www.cnn.com/2002/HEALTH/conditions/09/23/cdc.smallpox.plan/index.html