Pentagon Opposes Limits On Vaccine Purchases

By Deborah Funk

Navy Times

September 4, 2000

Pentagon officials are balking at a Senate plan that would set conditions on the purchase of anthrax vaccine.

The Senate-passed proposal, attached to the 2001 defense authorization bill, would prevent the Pentagon from spending newly authorized money on the anthrax program until it takes certain steps to straighten out its supply problems.

First, the Defense Department must notify Congress when the Food and Drug Administration approves the production process of the vaccine's sole supplier, BioPort Corp. of Lansing, Mich.

Second, the provision demands a report from the Defense Department about finding a second source to produce the vaccine.

In a letter to Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner, R-Va., Defense Secretary William Cohen said defense officials need the money to keep the vaccination program going.

The provision, he wrote, "would impede our important anthrax vaccine production program and could adversely impact our ability to secure a second production source."

An Aug. 21 appeal to Congress prepared by the Pentagon comptroller says the money is needed for pre-production requirements for FDA approval. It would be spent on things like vaccine potency testing and improving the facilities so they meet the required standards. The money would not be used to buy new lots of vaccine until the FDA approves the plant.

Pentagon officials say the vaccine will protect troops in the event they are attacked with aerosolized anthrax, the deadly form they would expect in biological warfare. Through their mandatory Anthrax Vaccine Immunization Program, defense officials plan to inoculate all

2.4 million service members. Right now, however, dwindling supply holds the program hostage.

The House version of the defense authorization plan also increases oversight of the vaccination program, although it does not contain a restriction on spending similar to the Senate plan. Differences between the two bills are being negotiated in Congress.