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Archives | (May 2001)
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The Anthrax Vaccine: Making Our Soldiers Guinea Pigs Part One (cont.)
------------------------------------------------------------------ Page 6 of 6 According to testimony by the Government Accounting Office, once DOD got involved, the BioPort gravy train really got rolling. First, on August 4, 1999 the Department provided what they called “extraordinary contractual relief.” And what was this relief? To begin with, the value of the contract was raised by $24.1 million by raising the price of each dose to $10.64. Originally it had been $2.26! Then DOD gave BioPort an interest-free advance payment of $18.7 million. DOD also allowed BioPort to hold back a portion of its vaccine stockpiles for sale to civilian customers. Finally, DOD reduced the quantity of vaccine BioPort was required to deliver from 7.9 million doses to 4.6 million. This, however, was just the beginning. In February of 2000, DOD increased the value of BioPort’s contract by an additional $13 million. It also agreed to return $7.4 million of the advance $18.7 million payment the company had repaid to the Department and to extend the repayment terms of the advance. A Government Accounting Office Audit of BioPort’s funding, however, discovered over $2 million in inappropriate spending, including some $1.28 million in bonuses for company executives, $900,000 in spending for office furniture and a $10,000 per month sweetheart consulting contract to a former employee. Overall, between 1999 and 2001, DOD would pump over $75 million in BioPort even though it still had not obtained full FDA approval! But what has all this money bought? Potentially nothing but trouble, because nagging doubts about the vaccine’s safety remain. In part two of our special series on the anthrax vaccine, we will discuss the real facts about the vaccine'’ safety. Be sure to visit next month to get more of the story. |
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