President Barack Obama declared H1N1 a national emergency this weekend, a status that will give the federal government greater flexibility and authority to contain the pandemic. But the current shortage of H1N1 vaccine underscores the severe lack of U.S. preparedness in responding to pandemics, whether through natural disease transmission or manmade bioterrorist attacks.
“Whether the threat is from naturally occurring disease or bioterrorism, the United States needs to be able to produce vaccines and other medicines faster and less expensively. We had six months of advance warning for the H1N1 pandemic. A bioterrorism attack will have no advance warning. Creating the infrastructure for rapid development of large quantities of safe vaccines and medicine is a win-win for public health and national security,” said Senator Bob Graham, chairman of the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism.
The Commission released the two-minute video to engage the U.S. public on the need to improve the nation’s capability to produce vaccines and medicines faster and less expensively—and just as safely. The video and resources are available at www.FasterVaccines.org.
The United States—unlike the European Union and China—continues to use a 60-year old production method, using chicken eggs, to make H1N1 and other important vaccines. Modern methods will shave months off the typical six-to-nine months that current processes require. These newer methods can produce more vaccine and be quickly scaled-up, on demand.
The consequences of ignoring the bioterrorist threat could be dire. For example, one recent study from the intelligence community projected that a two-to-four pound release of anthrax spores from a crop duster plane could kill more Americans than died in World War II. Clean-up and other economic costs could exceed $1.8 trillion. A large public investment today will greatly mitigate the risk posed by pandemic disease and terrorist attack alike.
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