10.23.2007
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 | Super Moderator | | Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Michigan
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| Throw out old anthrax vaccine, expert tells U.S.
Throw out old anthrax vaccine, expert tells U.S. 10/23/07 Quote: WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government needs to throw away more than $12 million worth of expired anthrax vaccine and quickly use up the rest of a rapidly aging supply worth hundreds of millions of dollars, a Government Accountability Office expert said on Tuesday.
A report from the GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, shows that the Health and Human Services Department signed an overly optimistic contract with a struggling biotech company to make anthrax vaccine -- a contract that VaxGen Inc could never realistically have been expected to fill.
That deal was scuttled in January after it became clear that VaxGen would not be able to fill the order.
HHS must now find a way to use up rapidly aging stockpiles of anthrax vaccine and come up with better ways to contract for new and improved vaccines, the GAO said.
"Three lots of BioThrax vaccine in the stockpile have already expired, resulting in losses of over $12 million," the GAO's Keith Rhodes told a hearing of the Senate's Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. | http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/anthrax_v...yeJsYNC3is0NUE  |
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