- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A
joint venture between Acambis Plc and Baxter International Inc. won a U.S.
government contract to produce 155 million doses of a smallpox vaccine,
Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said on Wednesday.
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- The government will pay $428 million for the doses, which
will help the United States bolster defenses against the potential bioterror
weapon, Thompson told reporters during a telephone briefing.
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- Thompson said he expected the government would receive
the doses by early to late fall of next year.
-
- Officials have said they do not plan a mass immunization
program at the present time but want to be prepared to confront what experts
call one of the most frightening biological agents.
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- ``The probability of an intentional release (of smallpox)
is low, but the risk does exist and we must be prepared,'' Thompson said.
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- Highly contagious, smallpox kills about 30 percent of
its victims and leaves others disfigured. There is no effective treatment
once someone falls ill, but giving a vaccine in the days immediately following
exposure can prevent illness.
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- Smallpox was declared eradicated worldwide in 1980, marking
one of the greatest successes in modern medicine. The United States and
Russia keep the only official supplies of the smallpox virus, but experts
fear other countries or groups may have access to the agent and could unleash
it as a biological weapon.
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- Routine smallpox vaccination in the United States ended
in 1972, and officials are hesitant to resume the immunizations because
the shots have been linked to serious side effects, including deaths.
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- U.S. health officials began accelerating efforts to prepare
for a smallpox attack after the Sept. 11 hijacking attacks and amid five
deaths from inhaled anthrax since early October.
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- The U.S. government has a previous order for an additional
54 million smallpox vaccine doses, also slated for delivery next year,
from Acambis.
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- The United States has another 15 million doses in storage,
and tests are underway to see if scientists can stretch that supply by
diluting those doses.
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- Experts believe immunity to smallpox likely has worn
off for people vaccinated before 1972.
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