HHS Set to Order Smallpox Vaccine for All Americans

Washington Post ^ | November 7, 2001 | Ceci Connolly

[concerned about politics]

Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson said yesterday that he expects to sign a contract this weekend to purchase enough smallpox vaccine for every American but that he has warned the White House the cost could be quadruple the $509 million he originally estimated -- or equivalent to the department's entire $1.9 billion bioterrorism budget.

[Liberty Ship]

What happened was that Jimmy Carter canned Dr. David Sencer from the CDC in 1977 because of the Swine Flu thing. Made it real clear to all that innoculation/vaccination path was a bad career move. Better to chase our guns and smokes -- more brownie points with the administration. We had stopped routine, domestic smallpox vaccinations in the early 1970's. By the time the WHO decided to declare smallpox dead, there was no one left at the CDC who would stand up. I just learned that the Pentagon, at least, did not buy it.

[Capt. Tom]

The terrorists have accompolished a goal. Just by us worrying about small pox we are going to spend another 2 billion.

A billion here a billion there, a lot of billions for the airlines. A billion a month for the war, Pretty soon we are talking about some serious money.Not to mention bigger government.

The terrorists cost us a lot of bucks for their bang.

What other choices do we have? We have to spend the money. They killed thousands of Americans and must be killed for that.

Lets face it our economy is Kaput for at least another year -Tom

[teresat]

From the book "Great Presidential Wit" by Bob Dole:

In the autumn of 1863, beset as always by office seekers, Abraham Lincoln's physician told him that he was suffering from varioloid, a mild form of smallpox. "Is it contagious?" asked the president. "Very contagious," the doctor assured him. Lincoln seemed oddly pleased. The doctor asked why. "There is one good thing about this," the president told him. "Now I have something I can give everybody."

[stryker]

Going to come too late. We need to dilute what we have, and vaccinate those born after 1972. The rest of us have about a 3% chance of dying based upon our previous inoculations. That would give us a fighting chance until we can produce enough serum for everyone.

[RightOnline]

[What follows is a criticism of the Washington ComPost, NOT the poster..........]

Ridiculous headline. Misleading as all hell. This implies that the Feds are ORDERING all of us to get a smallpox vaccine. Of course, we of independent / Constitutionalist stripe would immediately say "Oh yeah? Kiss my ass. You order me to do NOTHING!!!"

However, the article is REALLY about the Feds being willing to pony-up for enough vaccine to innoculate the entire U.S. populace.

Big difference, eh???

[Elenya]

Agreed. We need to immunize the kids first.

[dalereed]

I was vacinated as a child and 20 years later was given another vacination by US Customs when I returned from Mexico in 1958 and it didn't take therefore my first one was still effective after 20 years.

[Elenya]

The article mentions that the vaccines won't be ready until the end of next year. Let's hope Saddam and Co will wait...

[Dixie Mom]

Index bump. To search for smallpox articles, click here: Smallpox List. Please ping all articles relating to smallpox to the list.

[Dixie Mom]

The manufacturer referred to in the WP article using human stem cell lines to produce the vaccine is Acambis, located in the UK. According to the following article at least 10 other companies are proposing to produce the vaccine for the government.

I agree with your position on the use of human stem cells. Does anyone know how to locate these other proposals to learn of their manufacturing methods?

---

Major Drugmakers Hope to Supply US Government With Smallpox Vaccine

WASHINGTON (Reuters Health) Oct 29 - GlaxoSmithKline said on Friday that it would seek to begin manufacturing smallpox vaccine to help prepare the United States for the possibility that the disease could be used in a bioterrorist attack.

Following meetings with Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson, the company told the press it had submitted a proposal to regulators to begin making and supplying smallpox inoculations.

American Home Products will submit a plan as well, that company said on Friday. The firm's Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories division made a smallpox vaccine from 1944 until mid-1980, but stopped production because the disease had been declared eradicated.

Merck & Co. has also said it is in talks with the government about producing the vaccine.

In all, the US government has received 10 proposals from companies wishing to develop and supply the product, according to Thompson, who has requested $509 million from Congress to build up stockpiles of the vaccine.

The UK's Acambis, which said earlier this month that it had speeded up development of its smallpox vaccine, already has a 20-year contract with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for an initial 40 million doses. Acambis expects to begin clinical trials early next year and make the first deliveries in 2004.

Thompson said he hopes to have the new proposals reviewed and evaluated this week. The government has asked the interested companies to detail how they could meet US demand within 12 months.

Vaccine production could begin as soon as the end of November or the start of December, Thompson said.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization stressed on Friday that mass inoculations for smallpox are unwise unless there is a real risk of exposure, noting that the vaccine can have serious side effects.