Well-connected drug company obtained anthrax vaccine contracts despite side effects

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Well-connected drug company obtained anthrax vaccine contracts despite side effects
Submitted by davidswanson on Tue, 2007-05-29 18:38. Media

By Julie Weisberg, RawStory

Two former high-ranking health officials with close ties to the Bush administration helped a Michigan-based pharmaceutical company secure sole-source, multi-million dollar federal contracts for the purchase of its controversial anthrax vaccine, a RAW STORY investigation has found.

Last month, Emergent BioSolutions announced that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) intended to purchase more than 18 million doses of its Biothrax vaccine for the Strategic National Stockpile. The strategic stockpile is set aside for civilian use during a large-scale emergency, such as a bioterrorism attack or natural disaster. Once finalized, the contract will be the largest of its kind for Emergent’s anthrax vaccine.

BioThrax is the only FDA-licensed vaccine for anthrax in the United States. The Pentagon has used it for the military’s mandatory anthrax vaccination program for the last ten years, though not without problems. Although the military continues to publicly claim the vaccine is “safe and effective,” thousands of soldiers have suffered adverse reactions, ranging from mild to severe.

In March, RAW STORY revealed that Walter Reed is investigating links between the vaccine and life-threatening autoimmune diseases. Hundreds of U.S. service members have refused the shots, fearing the side-effects experienced by some 80 percent of the soldiers who receive them, according to a 2002 General Accountability Office report.

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