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BioWatch: PharmAthene to work with HHS on anthrax vaccine
Gazette.Net - Maryland Community Newspapers Online - Friday January 08, 2010
Last month, two Maryland biotechs were dealt a blow when federal health officials canceled their agency's request for proposals for a new, second-generation anthrax vaccine.
Both PharmAthene of Annapolis and Emergent BioSolutions of Rockville have been working for years to win the contract with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority. But BARDA officials said they did not think the companies could have a vaccine ready for Food and Drug Administration approval within eight years.
Rather than issue a new request, the agency, part of the Department of Health and Human Services, said it would ask vaccine developers to submit new product development plans.
On Dec. 29, BARDA announced plans to negotiate with PharmAthene to help develop its vaccine candidate, called SparVax, which has been tested in phase 1 and 2 clinical trials on 700 individuals.
Commentary:
Given that Emergent Biosolutions is the same basic company that originally manufactured and distributed the vaccine for inhalational anthrax - with a track record of contaminated and expired vaccine, of changing fermenting and filtering equipement without notifying the FDA, of mislabeling vaccine lots and more - we can only think it must be good news if this company is not invited to make any more anthrax vaccine. Ever.
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Delaware business: Newark lab wins vaccine contract
by Andrew Eder -
Deleware News Journal - Wednesday January 06, 2010
"Fraunhofer USA Center for Molecular Biotechnology [...] said Tuesday that it has received a $5.3 million contract from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, a unit of the Department of Defense tasked with protecting the country from weapons of mass destruction. The government hopes to find a flexible technology that can quickly produce a large amount of vaccine for biological agents in the event of a terrorist attack. [...] Fraunhofer Executive Director Vidadi Yusibov said his group has been working on anthrax and plague vaccines for about four years, aided by government grants.
[...] Both diseases are rarely seen in humans in the United States but could be deadly as a biological weapon. With the new contract, Fraunhofer is expected to demonstrate safety and efficacy in animal testing of a one-shot vaccine to protect against both infectious diseases, with the goal of having a product ready for initial testing in humans.
[...] Fraunhofer has developed a tec...
Commentary:
Be worried. Be very worried. The military already has a habit of giving multiple vaccines in one day to service members; and service members have already died from this practice. Physicians don't order these shots; commanders do. Proper medical protocol is too often sacrificed for "convenience" and "efficiency." -- Have to wonder how convenient and efficient it is to lose service members or have them experience the onset of debilitating illnesses as a result of these vaccines and how they're given.
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*FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] gunmen deputized to help administer vaccines
Canada Free Press - Friday September 25, 2009
This story originally ran Aug. 31, 2009. Those of us fighting the military's mandatory bioterrorism vaccines have always said that it's only when civilians are affected that they will finally understand what has happened to our service men and women. Well, everyone - here come the vaccine police:
"Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) officials are directing police chiefs nationwide to search local gun owner records to identify and train civilian deputies to secure smallpox vaccination sites. According to documents forwarded to civil rights groups by police chiefs engaged in a growing smallpox vaccination resistance movement, the plan calls for armed civilian security guards to maintain the peace in every room [in which] the vaccine will be given. The FEMA directive aim[s] to prevent violence at smallpox vaccination areas. It also effectively removes law enforcement officials who oppose vaccination. Police chiefs are now being pressured to comply, get vac...
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Military vaccines set for October
Gulf Breeze News - Thursday September 17, 2009
All military personnel will be vaccinated against the H1N1 flu virus, and the vaccine will be available to all military family members who want it, a Defense Department health affairs official says.
The H1N1 vaccination program will begin in early October, said Army Lt. Col. (Dr.) Wayne Hachey, director of preventive medicine for Defense Department health affairs.
The vaccine, which has been licensed by the Food and Drug Administration, will be mandatory for uniformed personnel, the colonel said.
"What we want to do is target those people who are at highest risk for transmission," he said.
Health-care workers, deploying troops, those serving on ships and submarines, and new accessions are at the top of the list.
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| Press
Room... |
The US and Viet Nam are just NOW talking about the effects of Agent Orange
Friday September 25, 2009
I just posted this article under the VA section of this site, with no small amount of astonishment that here we are, about 40 years later, and our government is just NOW willing to talk about the Vietnamese who were injured by Agent Orange, the same as our own troops were? Just now?
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New Disability Review Process
Friday February 06, 2009
To all:
Recently, the DOD has come out and said that anyone who left the military for medical reasons, but received a disability rating of 20%...
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7-year anthrax emergency declared along with vaccine/remedy immunity
Monday October 20, 2008
But Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and some other Democrats, along with consumer groups such as Public Citizen, derided the liability provision as a g...
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| Anthrax
Vaccine Fast Facts ... |
Federal
Court Ruling: "The involuntary anthrax vaccination program,
as applied to all persons, is rendered illegal absent informed
consent or a Presidential waiver." Click
here for Judge Emmet Sullivan's decision.
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Congressional
General Accounting Office (GAO) Findings on the Safety and
Efficacy of the Anthrax Vaccine. NSIAD-00-54R
-- Abstract
-- "The long-term safety of the vaccine has not been studied"
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GAO
-- Medical Readiness: Safety and Efficacy of the Anthrax
Vaccine. T-NSIAD-99-148
-- Abstract
-- "The nature and magnitude of the military threat of biological
warfare (BW) has not changed since 1990"
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Hypersensitivity
Pneumonitis Following Anthrax Vaccination by LT Suzanne
J. Timmer, MD, MC,USNR; CAPT Dennis E. - Chest Online by
American College of Chest Physicians
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Anthrax
Vaccine: GAO's Survey of Guard and Reserve Pilots and Aircrew.
GAO-02-445
-- Abstract
-- "systemic reaction rate reported through the survey represents
a level more than a hundred times higher than the 0.2 percent
published in the product insert."
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| Leaders
Speak Out ... |
Presidential
Candidate George W. Bush, US Medicine. Sep. 2000:
"The Defense Department's Anthrax Immunization Program
has raised numerous health concerns and caused fear among
the individuals whose lives it touches. I don't feel the
[Clinton] administration's anthrax immunization program
has taken into account the effect of this program on the
soldiers in our military and their families. Under my administration,
soldiers and their families will be taken into consideration."
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Presidential
Candidate Sen. John McCain, San Diego Union Tribune. Feb.
26, 2000:
"I think that there should be a pause. I think that
they have not done the job in educating the members of the
military, and I would pause and I would get the best scientific
and medical people together and make a better argument than
they've made ... I'm not saying that I know enough to say
that it should never be, but right now members of the armed
services, the Guard and reserves are not accepting it."
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Defense
Secretary Rumsfeld, Pentagon News Briefings, Oct. 18, 2001:
"We're going to try and save it. There have been other
efforts that have failed over a period of years. And it
may or may not be savable ... it's not very well underway,
as you point out ... they have not been approved by the
FDA, as I understand it. They do not have what looks to
be -- well, I shouldn't be characterizing a private entity
that way, but things have not been going swimmingly for
them ..."
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Defense
Secretary Rumsfeld, Pentagon News Briefings, October 25,
2001:
Q: Are you taking the anthrax vaccine, Mr. Secretary?
Secretary Rumsfeld: No.
Q: You're not being inoculated; you're not taking a series.
Secretary Rumsfeld: No. No.
Q: All right. No vaccine.
Secretary Rumsfeld: No, no, no.
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Defense
Secretary Rumsfeld, Pentagon News Briefings, October 28,
2001:
Q: Okay. Mr. Secretary, have you been vaccinated against
anthrax?
Secretary Rumsfeld: No. Have you?
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Sen.
Bill Frist, Senate Majority Leader, CNN. Dec. 18, 2001:
"The vaccine is a dated vaccine, it's an old vaccine.
There are very real and potentially serious side effects
from the vaccine and anyone who elects to receive the vaccine
needs to be made aware of that. I do not recommend widespread
inoculation for people with the vaccine in the Hart Building
...There are too many side effects and if there is limited
chance of exposure the side effects would far outweigh any
potential advantage."
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Al
Gore, Presidential Candidate, Apr. 11, 2000:
"I feel the concerns are genuine. I also know that
sometimes concerns of this sort are based on confusing data
that is hard to interpret. But based on the concerns I have
heard from military personnel directly, I think we are justified
in taking a closer look -- I think that some increased sensitivity
to the kinds of questions that are being raised is needed."
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