Pentagon Explores Other Vaccine Options
February 5, 2002
By THOMAS D. WILLIAMS, Courant Staff Writer
Despite recent approval of renewed use of the anthrax vaccine to protect all
2.4 million military service members against biological warfare, the
Pentagon says the vaccine will be used on a limited basis temporarily while
officials study other options, including developing a new vaccine.
The department is collaborating with other agencies to develop new vaccines
and treatments for bioterrorism agents, William Winkenwerder Jr., assistant
secretary of defense for health affairs, said last week.
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who has said he believes
the vaccine has not been proved safe or effective, said Friday that he takes
President Bush at his word when he said in his State of the Union address
last week that the administration would develop a new, effective vaccine.
"I am concerned that the [federal vaccine] testing is just a stopgap so that
some vaccine is available in an emergency in the absence of an effective
vaccine," Blumenthal said.
More than 511,000 service members have been vaccinated with more than 2
million doses of the vaccine since March 1998, when the vaccinations became
mandatory. Some of the inoculations triggered adverse reactions, ranging
from swollen arms and minor rashes to long-term autoimmune disorders. About
400 service people have refused to take the vaccine and have been
disciplined or expelled because of that stance. Hundreds of pilots in the
National Guard and reserve units have resigned rather than take the shots.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration last week allowed the manufacturer,
BioPort Corp. of Lansing, Mich., to begin shipping three lots of its own
vaccine to be used for only specially designated military units. Before the
approval, BioPort had been using controversial lots it purchased from the
former manufacturer, the Michigan Biologics Products Institute, part of
Michigan's health department.
For now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not recommend
vaccinations for the general public, despite the scare created by anthrax
mailed to congressional and national news offices. The anthrax contaminated
some congressional offices and U.S. postal facilities. Five people died and
13 were sickened by tainted letters. Some of the vaccine was offered on a
voluntary, experimental basis to postal and congressional workers already
exposed to anthrax spores.
Michigan Biologics Products Institute, which held the license for the
vaccine since its first approval in 1970, halted production in January 1998
to begin a comprehensive renovation of its facility. In September 1998, the
facility was sold to BioPort.
Less than a year later, Pentagon officials approved a controversial
application to more than double the price of the vaccine, from $4.36 a dose
to $10.64, and to offer the company an $18.7 million interest-free advance
payment. That increased the price of producing the vaccine for all troops
from $25 million to $49 million. The Defense Department has spent about $125
million in assisting BioPort.
The deal drew fire from some members of Congress, military watchdogs and
vaccine users. One of BioPort's owners is retired U.S. Navy Admiral William
Crowe.