Wrangling Impedes Transfer Of Civilian Anthrax Vaccine
New York Times
By JUDITH MILLER
Despite pledges two years ago to maintain a stockpile of drugs to protect Americans in the event of a bioterrorism attack, the federal government has so far set aside only 159 vials of anthrax vaccine for the civilian population enough for only 530 people, according to congressional and administration officials.
The officials said the failure to transfer more of the vaccine from military to civilian control was caused by legal and bureaucratic wrangling among government agencies. They also cited the government's desire to buy a new vaccine that is potentially both cheaper and more efficient. That vaccine has not yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
Spokesmen for the Pentagon and the Department of Health and Human Services denied that the delay would imperil the well-being of civilians, saying that BioPort, the nation's sole producer of licensed anthrax vaccine, was storing nearly a million doses -- enough for more than 330,000 people.
''The bottom line is: if there is a civilian crisis that would require vaccination of the population, there is enough anthrax vaccine to do that,'' said Bill Pierce, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services. ''It would just take a phone call to get that vaccine transferred from the Pentagon to the stockpile,'' he said, dismissing the delays to ''paperwork that will get done.''
But a spokesman for BioPort and Pentagon officials said that the doses being stored are intended for the military, which announced in June that it was expanding its anthrax and smallpox vaccination program. If those doses were used by civilians in an emergency, officials said, military vaccinations would have to be curtailed or scaled back.
Michael Zamiara, the chief financial officer of BioPort, in Lansing, Mich., said the military had first call on its vaccine. ''We must run a business,'' he said. While the Department of Health and Human Services had indicated it wanted the vaccine for the civilian stockpile, he said, the agency had yet to ''pay us for it, or tell us how much it wants to buy.''
Officials also said that the Bush administration had not implemented an interagency agreement signed last April, a copy of which was provided to The Times, in which the Pentagon agreed to provide at least two million doses of anthrax vaccine to the civilian stockpile by the end of this fiscal year, or Sept. 30.
'It is a shocking lack of preparedness to have only 159 vials set aside for civilian use when we know that Al Qaeda would not hesitate to launch an anthrax attack against the United States,'said Rep. Jim Turner, Democrat of Texas, the ranking member of the House select committee on homeland security, which has been investigating the state of the nation's strategic stockpiles.
Jerome Hauer, a former assistant secretary with the Department of Health and Human Services in the Bush administration, said the months of infighting over such issues as who would indemnify BioPort for its vaccine reflected a lack of priority on biodefense.
'We now have bureaucrats and lawyers running bioterrorism preparedness,' said Mr. Hauer, who heads a biodefense center at George Washington University.
The vaccine issue has been complicated by Congress's recent transfer of control of the civilian stockpile from the Department of Homeland Security back to the Department of Health and Human Services.
Many scientists at the health agency favor a new recombinant vaccine that may require fewer shots and be faster to make.
By JUDITH MILLER
Despite pledges two years ago to maintain a stockpile of drugs to protect Americans in the event of a bioterrorism attack, the federal government has so far set aside only 159 vials of anthrax vaccine for the civilian population enough for only 530 people, according to congressional and administration officials.
The officials said the failure to transfer more of the vaccine from military to civilian control was caused by legal and bureaucratic wrangling among government agencies. They also cited the government's desire to buy a new vaccine that is potentially both cheaper and more efficient. That vaccine has not yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
Spokesmen for the Pentagon and the Department of Health and Human Services denied that the delay would imperil the well-being of civilians, saying that BioPort, the nation's sole producer of licensed anthrax vaccine, was storing nearly a million doses -- enough for more than 330,000 people.
''The bottom line is: if there is a civilian crisis that would require vaccination of the population, there is enough anthrax vaccine to do that,'' said Bill Pierce, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services. ''It would just take a phone call to get that vaccine transferred from the Pentagon to the stockpile,'' he said, dismissing the delays to ''paperwork that will get done.''
But a spokesman for BioPort and Pentagon officials said that the doses being stored are intended for the military, which announced in June that it was expanding its anthrax and smallpox vaccination program. If those doses were used by civilians in an emergency, officials said, military vaccinations would have to be curtailed or scaled back.
Michael Zamiara, the chief financial officer of BioPort, in Lansing, Mich., said the military had first call on its vaccine. ''We must run a business,'' he said. While the Department of Health and Human Services had indicated it wanted the vaccine for the civilian stockpile, he said, the agency had yet to ''pay us for it, or tell us how much it wants to buy.''
Officials also said that the Bush administration had not implemented an interagency agreement signed last April, a copy of which was provided to The Times, in which the Pentagon agreed to provide at least two million doses of anthrax vaccine to the civilian stockpile by the end of this fiscal year, or Sept. 30.
'It is a shocking lack of preparedness to have only 159 vials set aside for civilian use when we know that Al Qaeda would not hesitate to launch an anthrax attack against the United States,'said Rep. Jim Turner, Democrat of Texas, the ranking member of the House select committee on homeland security, which has been investigating the state of the nation's strategic stockpiles.
Jerome Hauer, a former assistant secretary with the Department of Health and Human Services in the Bush administration, said the months of infighting over such issues as who would indemnify BioPort for its vaccine reflected a lack of priority on biodefense.
'We now have bureaucrats and lawyers running bioterrorism preparedness,' said Mr. Hauer, who heads a biodefense center at George Washington University.
The vaccine issue has been complicated by Congress's recent transfer of control of the civilian stockpile from the Department of Homeland Security back to the Department of Health and Human Services.
Many scientists at the health agency favor a new recombinant vaccine that may require fewer shots and be faster to make.
