Fix The Serious Problems With U.S. Anthrax Vaccine

Portland (ME) Press Herald

July 17, 2000

It's possible to support the military's program to inoculate all its personnel against a deadly germ warfare threat and still recognize that the oversight and execution of the program now appears seriously flawed.

Pentagon officials testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee last week revealed that the sole company producing anthrax vaccine for the military has been plagued by management and financial problems, requiring a $24 million increase in the contract's costs. That amounts to a contractor bailout.

The FDA closed BioPort Corp.'s plant in Lansing, Mich., in December, citing violations of safety, consistency, record-keeping and sterility. Curiously, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, retired Adm. William J. Crowe Jr., controls 11 percent of the company's stock.

Though the plant may soon be back in business, the military has cut back the protective shots from 75,000 a month to 14,000, focusing on soldiers assigned to critical overseas areas.

The Pentagon is set to decide by July 31 whether it will build its own plant, but that could take up to seven years. Those circumstances led one senator to recommend the Pentagon buy BioPort and produce the vaccine itself.

The administration has the right and the duty to inoculate soldiers against serious biowar threats – even though inoculation has proved controversial among some service members.

If Congress is concerned about that, or any of the program's procurement problems, it has the power to act. So far, only about 35 members of Congress have protested the program, too few to influence policy. These disturbing reports, however, indicate that procurement – at a minimum – may need much more oversight.