- The US Defence Department has announced a $US29.7 million
order for anthrax vaccine based on the assumption that a federal judge's
ban on mandatory inoculations will be reversed.
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- Privately held BioPort Corp of Lansing, Michigan, was
awarded the Army order on Wednesday as part of a $US245.6 million contract,
the Pentagon said.
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- The move demonstrates confidence "we will resume
the anthrax vaccination program as it existed before the judge's order,"
said Bryan Whitman, a Defence Department spokesman.
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- On December 22, US District Judge Emmet Sullivan barred
the Pentagon from "inoculating service members without their consent."
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- 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.
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- The Pentagon said the next day it would administer the
vaccine only on a voluntary basis until the legal issues were sorted out.
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- On Tuesday the US Food and Drug Administration said the
anthrax vaccine was safe for use in protecting US troops against inhaled
exposure to the potentially deadly bacteria.
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- The Bush administration then asked the court to lift
the ban on mandatory shots.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- "If the judge's decision stands, the Pentagon may
have just wasted millions of dollars," he said.
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- Defence officials say one million service members have
been vaccinated since the program started in 1998.
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- Only about 10 have refused to take the shots since the
September 11, 2001, attacks against Washington and New York.
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- Anthrax is considered the top biological weapon threat.
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- It can be transmitted in three ways - through inhalation
of the spores, into a cut in the skin, or by eating contaminated meat.
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- Inhaled anthrax is by far the deadliest form.
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- © 2004 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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- http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1019739.htm
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