Background. The public health system continues its efforts to prepare for bioterrorist events, such
as a smallpox outbreak, but may need to call on other health professionals to ensure sufficient capacity
to implement preparedness plans.
Objective. The goal was to understand the willingness of primary care physicians to participate in
possible smallpox pre- or post-event activities.
Methods. A 23-question mail survey was sent to a national random sample of 727 internists and
720 family physicians. After three mailings, a one-page version of the survey was sent to nonrespondents.
Results. Response rates were 26% for questions common to both surveys and 22% for questions on
the longer survey only. Respondents to the survey expressed moderate support for participating in
certain smallpox pre- and post-event activities. Under a pre-event scenario, many providers would
be willing to vaccinate first responders in their practice, and roughly one-third would be willing to
vaccinate patients in their practice or to work in a public health clinic as a vaccinator. Most physicians,
however, would be unwilling to be vaccinated themselves. Under post-event conditions, most
providers would be willing to vaccinate their own patients, and many would vaccinate other community
members in their practice.
Conclusions. Despite the low response rate, information from this study on the smallpox preparedness
activities in which physicians are most willing to participate can help to inform efforts by
public health officials and private physicians to collaborate on bioterrorism preparedness efforts.
