My understanding was that the anthrax vaccine was being manufactured by a small facility in Michigan. However, I am not exactly familiar with the specifics of where the plants are located.
Frankly, I've been attempting to locate the vaccine production facilities for every vaccine in the US market in order to understand the ownership and political interests involved. However, I have been entirely unsuccessful. Although I am a physician and purchase tens of thousands of dollars worth of vaccines per year, the pharmaceutical industry is tight lipped regarding where the components of US vaccines originate.
We physicians are left with a "trust me" relationship!
Reagan's philosophy of trust but verify is crucial. However, the companies have not permitted verification of manufacturing issues by any other than FDA alone.
Wyeth pharmaceuticals, a division of American Home Products, was manufacturing the tetanus immunization. They withdrew from the market with only 10 business days warning to the entire nation. This left our entire nation with only one supplier, Aventis-Pasteur. Vaccines appear to require one year lead time to manufacture. So, Wyeth's sudden departure left our national health in a bad position.
Merck makes the Measles-Mumps-Rubella and the chicken pox vaccine. Both were in short supply in the early part of the year. However, Merck had the corporate citizenship to send letters to all physicians. The letter discussed the fact that the company was addressing issues identified by FDA. They were tightening security on the manufacturing facility and tightened controls on the processing of the live virus vaccine. Merck expects their operation to be up to full speed soon.
On the other end, Wyeth's 10-Q at Yahoo.Com appears to admit "manufacturing" issues. They can not project when shortages of the pneumococcal vaccine will end. It sounds as if the conjugate vaccine called Prevnar will be in short supply for the next year!