Will post the update when the story comes, Developing...
Stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown
An article about it in a major news agency is not hush hush.
Say, Alamo-Girl: I forgot the NAME of the smallpox list here at FR, so that this article can be indexed there -- do you recall the name of it?
I see you're too new to have taken part in the Great Anthrax Panic here around October 8th. It was fueled by a few newbies (like you) who signed on October 4th and 5th, and were banned within a week.
Will that be allowed? Or is it mandatory that everyone with a social security card get a shot.
Either way, it takes time to produce the vacine-enough of it to protect all of us...and once treated we are immune for up to 10 years...so why not go ahead and get it in place like we would any other system of defense?
To me, it sounds like a reasonable precaution that gives terrorists one less weapon to use against us.
I just hope they distribute tin hats along with it...that way i can be protected from all threats-those real and also those perceived...
Pro-Life Groups Upset Over Origin of Smallpox Vaccine
And then after saving mankind expect to be hated and criticized some more.
Wednesday November 28 6:51 PM ETFeds to Buy 155 Million Smallpox Vaccine Doses
By Lisa Richwine
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government said Wednesday it ordered 155 million smallpox vaccine doses from Acambis Plc and Baxter International Inc. to place in a stockpile to defend against potential bioterror weapons.
The companies, working as a joint venture, will produce the shots for $428 million with delivery expected by early or late fall of next year, Health and Human Services (news - web sites) Secretary Tommy Thompson announced. The cost per dose is $2.76.
The supplies will help the government stockpile enough doses to immunize each American if needed against what experts call one of the most frightening biological agents, Thompson said.
The United States has a previous order from Acambis for 54 million doses and is testing whether it can dilute older vaccine stocks. Once completed, the nation's stockpile will include 286 million smallpox vaccine doses, Thompson said.
``We should, at this time next year, have enough vaccine in stock to protect all Americans,'' Thompson told reporters during a telephone briefing.
``We also hope that increasing our smallpox vaccine stockpile would serve as a deterrent to any individual terrorist who might be considering using smallpox as a weapon,'' he added.
U.S. health officials began accelerating efforts to prepare for a smallpox attack after the Sept. 11 hijacking attacks and amid five deaths from inhaled anthrax since early October.
Officials said they do not plan a mass immunization program at the present time but want to be prepared to minimize the spread if a smallpox outbreak occurs.
``The probability of an intentional release of the smallpox virus is low, but the risk does exist and we must be prepared,'' Thompson said.
Highly contagious, smallpox kills about 30 percent of its victims and leaves others disfigured. There is no effective treatment once someone falls ill, but giving a vaccine in the days immediately following exposure can prevent illness.
The illness was declared eradicated worldwide in 1980, marking one of the greatest successes in modern medicine. The United States and Russia keep the only official supplies of the smallpox virus, but experts fear other countries or groups may have access to the agent and could unleash it as a weapon.
Routine smallpox vaccination in the United States ended in 1972, and officials are hesitant to resume the immunizations because the shots have been linked to serious side effects, including deaths.
Experts believe immunity to smallpox likely has worn off for people vaccinated before 1972.
Scientists are testing 15.4 million doses they have held since 1983 to see whether they can dilute them to 77 million doses.
As the newer vaccine becomes available, officials would tap those supplies first before using the older version as a backup, said Dr. Donald Henderson, a top bioterrorism adviser to Thompson and the man who led the effort that wiped out smallpox.
Acambis, based in Cambridge, England, and Baxter, based in Deerfield, Illinois, beat out rival bids from drug giants GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Merck and Co Inc.
Under the arrangement, Baxter will produce bulk vaccine at a facility in Europe and Acambis will refine and process the material at a plant in Massachusetts, Acambis spokeswoman Lyndsay Wright said.
Clinical trials of the vaccine are scheduled to start early next year, Acambis said.