http://www.forbes.com/technology/newswire/2004/01/02/rtr1196702.html
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Defense Department announced
Friday a $29.7 million order for anthrax vaccine based on the assumption that a
federal judge's ban on mandatory inoculations will be reversed.
Privately held BioPort Corp. of Lansing, Michigan, was
awarded the Army order Wednesday as part of a $245.6 million contract, the
Pentagon said.
The move demonstrates confidence "we will resume
the anthrax vaccination program as it existed before the judge's order,"
said Bryan Whitman, a Defense Department spokesman.
On Dec. 22 U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan barred
the Pentagon from "inoculating service members without their consent."
In a preliminary injunction, he ruled the vaccine used
in the Pentagon's mandatory program was an "investigational drug"
being used for what was an unapproved purpose.
The Pentagon said the next day it would administer the
vaccine only on a voluntary basis until the legal issues were sorted out.
On Tuesday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said
the anthrax vaccine was safe for use in protecting U.S. troops against inhaled
exposure to the potentially deadly bacteria.
The Bush administration then asked the court to lift
the ban on mandatory shots.
The administration also has asked for a stay of the
order for all service members except the six plaintiffs while the court weighs
the government's motion for a complete lifting of the ban.
Mark Zaid, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said the
Army's order for the new vaccine doses could amount to a case of fraud, waste
and abuse.
"If the judge's decision stands, the Pentagon may
have just wasted millions of dollars," he said.
Defense officials say 1 million service members have
been vaccinated since the program started in 1998. Only about 10 have refused to
take the shots since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks against Washington and New
York.
Anthrax is considered the top biological weapon threat.
It can be transmitted in three ways -- through inhalation of the spores, into a
cut in the skin, or by eating contaminated meat.
Inhaled anthrax is by far the deadliest form. In 2001
five Americans died from anthrax inhaled from contaminated mail.
Copyright 2004, Reuters News Service
