The Bush administration created Project BioShield to stockpile vaccines. But five years and $5.6 billion later, we are no closer to being able to combat a bioterrorist attack.
Squabbles among the major pharmaceutical companies, federal bureaucracy and liability risks have all but stopped research, and only two companies are left working on the project. The old anthrax vaccine, for example, needs to be reformulated to decrease side effects such as multiple sclerosis and allow for a longer shelf life. Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., described the program as “a torturous labyrinth of federal fiefdoms into which billions disappear.”
Posted by Angie Holladay
6 Comments
. . . and your point? Remember: this is the bush admin dealing with their masters. The vaccine means nothing; it’s the money that counts.
Yep! These companies know how to play the government. Billions of dollars spent for nothing? What’s new?
Anthrax …
Whatever happened with that investigation? After they found that the DNA indicated a US military source the whole thing seems to have been dropped.
Ben, that’s because they figured out the CIA was behind the whole thing and it was just a scare tactic…
I would love to see the IRS do an audit of the government as a whole to see where the money goes…
Whatever happened to Steven Hatfill, the person of interest, to U.S. government?
The same Hatfill who was a graduate of Southwestern College, here in Kansas. I will never forget getting the alumni paper where the SWC PR person was describing getting phone calls all in the same day from CNN, FoxNews, Time magazine, Washington Post, The New York Times, newspapers in London…, a PR person’s dream, but all were regarding a subject she couldn’t comment on.