DATE=12/13/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=ANTHRAX VACCINE PROBLEMS (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-257120
BYLINE=JIM RANDLE
DATELINE=PENTAGON
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Pentagon officials report more problems in
their effort to vaccinate all U-S military personnel
against deadly anthrax germ weapons. V-O-A's Jim
Randle reports, bureaucratic tangles and scientific
advances may delay vaccinations for hundreds of
thousands of soldiers for a year -- or longer.
TEXT: Defense Secretary William Cohen has ordered
more than two-million active duty and reserve U-S
soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines to get shots to
protect them from anthrax.
It takes six shots [inoculations] over several years
to get full protection from the disease, which is
almost always fatal.
Pentagon officials say Iraq and North Korea may be
developing ways to use anthrax germs on the
battlefield, so troops serving in the Persian Gulf or
Korea are first in line to get the protection.
At a briefing Monday, Pentagon health officials said
production problems mean there is just enough vaccine
to protect only these 383-thousand "first-to-fight"
troops. Others will have to wait.
There was only one facility in the United States that
could manufacture the vaccine, and it has been torn
down as part of an effort to boost production several-
hundred-fold.
The assistant secretary of defense for health affairs,
Dr. Sue Bailey, says officials had no idea it would
take so long to get the expanded replacement factory
running properly.
/// BAILEY ACT ///
It has been more difficult than the Department
[of Defense] and Bioport [the vaccine maker]
expected, to move from a small state-regulated
facility to a large, modern production facility
that meets the state-of-the-art F-D-A [U-S Food
and Drug Administration] requirements.
/// END ACT ///
Pentagon officials say the construction work is
finished, but Food and Drug Administration inspectors
found 30 problems with the facility operating plan.
Until those are corrected, no vaccine can be produced,
which may take six months, a year, or even longer.
And the cost is likely to be another seven-million to
10-million dollars -- on top of [in addition to] an
18-million-dollar cash infusion the Pentagon sent to
the contractor, "Bioport," last August, to correct
unforeseen business problems. The cost over-runs will
boost the price of the overall program to at least
158-million dollars.
Pentagon officials attribute some of the delay to the
plant's problems in adapting to advances in
biotechnology.
Meantime, some two-hundred U-S military personnel have
refused to take the shots, complaining the vaccine is
unsafe. Some have been disciplined for refusing to
follow orders, and a few have been thrown out of the
service.
Pentagon officials say the vaccine has been used for
decades without problems. Dr. Bailey says hundreds of
thousands of doses have been given to U-S personnel,
and only six have required hospitalization due to
allergic reactions. She says there have been no
deaths or serious illnesses due to the vaccine.
/// REST OPT ///
Thousands of doses of anthrax vaccine have been sold
to Canada and a few other nations, and South Korea is
said to be considering using the vaccine. (Signed)
NEB/JR/WTW
13-Dec-1999 16:53 PM EDT (13-Dec-1999 2153 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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