Posted on 03/13/2013 2:44:14 AM PDT by Olog-hai
The United States government is buying enough of a new smallpox medicine to treat two million people in the event of a bioterrorism attack, and took delivery of the first shipment of it last week. But the purchase has set off a debate about the lucrative contract, with some experts saying the government is buying too much of the drug at too high a price.
A small company, Siga Technologies, developed the drug in recent years. Whether the $463 million order is a boondoggle or a bargain depends on which expert is talking. The deal will transform the finances of Siga, which is controlled by Ronald O. Perelman, a billionaire financier, philanthropist and takeover specialist.
Smallpox was eradicated by 1980, and the only known remaining virus is in government laboratories in the United States and Russia. But there have long been rumors of renegade stocks that could be sprayed in airports or sports stadiums. Experts say the virus could also be re-engineered into existence in a sophisticated genetics lab.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Siga Technologies, a subsidiary of OFA
..hoping people won’t notice. See Odungo is spending the money to protect us. I’d wager that the CEO is a big Odungo supporter tho.....
Over $200 a shot. Must be a union shop.
Why, with the budget problems the US has, would they spend $463 million for 2 million doses of vaccine, when they already have 300 million doses in cold storage?
Did some idiot authorized the disposal of the 300 million original doses a few years ago, and now they’re covering their butts?
Siga doesn’t stand a chance and we’ve known (and shown) that for years:
http://junipersec.wordpress.com/2011/10/13/when-the-wind-blows/
They’re worried about a bio-terror attack??? How about some illegal alien just bringing it in?
> Theyre worried about a bio-terror attack??? How about some illegal alien just bringing it in?
There are smallpox cases left for an illegal to bring in. The virus is only left in a couple of labs. There could only be intentional stuff from a terrorist to bring in.
The real nightmare is what might have been stolen from biopreparat and other bloodpox lines during the soviet breakup.
That, we have NO control over. And the vaccines are for nothing.
1.)gun control - ostensibly dis arming the public
2.) Govt buys ammo
3.) Govt buys anti mine crowd control vehicles
4.) Govt buys ONLY 2 million smallpox vacc
Makes you wonder whats in store
As it stands, the entire population has been innoculated at some point in time.....except for illegals. And it’s one of those diseases where isolation works.
the gov buys ammo to kill and vacc to save lives... yes, there IS something rotten in the state of Denmark..
No one born since the late 60’s has, in fact, been vaccinated against smallpox unless they traveled overseas. They stopped even that vaccination in the 70’s IIRC. I’m in my mid 40’s and i’m the only one in my age group locally that has the smallpox scar. We traveled overseas when I was a wee babe.
Supposedly the ONLY samples of smallpox left are at the CDC and a lab in Russia. What does the government know that they aren't saying? or are they the threat?
Also, if you were inoculated a long time ago, what are the chances that you still have protection?
“Also, if you were inoculated a long time ago, what are the chances that you still have protection?”
I’ve read anywhere from 0% to 50%.
That was based on the ‘vaccinations last a lifetime’. We know now that’s not exactly so. Probably closer to 0%.
It was free!
Everyone’s making the assumption that a ‘smallpox attack’ would involve the ‘wildtype’ virus that was responsible for pandemics prior to its eradication. That’s the virus all the vaccine stock is geared toward.
Those vaccines would have 0% effectiveness against a weaponized version. In that event the vaccines would be wasteful monetarily and unnecessarily dangerous themselves. Smallpox was a dangerous vaccine. There’s a reason it became ‘optional’ even before it was wiped out globally. Lots of side effects. Especially in kids.
In the event of a weaponized smallpox attack we’d waste billions of dollars vaccinating the population with a useless vaccine. Not to mention all the side effects. AND we’d still lose millions of people to the terror virus.
But it’d be a great reason to establish martial law.
If this is the same Siga vaccine that was discussed last year it hasn’t even been tested thoroughly. Its effectiveness is essentially unknown. But hey, what’s a half a $billion$ between campaign bundlers...
The Aralsk test killed bunches of people who were:
A - wearing suits/protection
B - vaccinated to the gills
The only reason it stopped was that the main effect was out to sea, and that the affected land area was isolated so the thing burned itself out.
How about an infected illegal alien?
Vaccines are ineffective against weaponized microbes. And, these days, any college grad student has plenty of knowledge of how to alter these microbes and access to the equipment to do it. The push to vaccinate kids against anthrax in the event of a terrorist event is a non starter. Any terror event likely will use genetically altered anthrax. Otherwise, why bother...
Microbe weaponization is just one stop on the whole ‘just because we can, should we?’ road to perdition.
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