Hundreds of military personnel and healthcare workers are to be vaccinated against smallpox, the British government said today.
In simultaneous announcements, the Ministry of Defence and Department of Health stressed that there was no evidence of a specific threat of smallpox being used against either the armed forces or Britain.
But they said that as a precaution, protection would be given to those military personnel whose specialisation might bring them into contact with biological weapons as well as to small teams of NHS health workers.
Police officers will not intitially receive the vaccinations.
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A spokesman for Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair denied the move was a response to a specific threat.