House Approves $5.6B in Funding for Project BioShield

The House on July 16 voted 421-2 to approve a bill (HR 2122) that would provide $5.6 billion in funding over 10 years for Project BioShield, the New York Times reports (Gay Stolberg, New York Times, 7/17). President Bush proposed Project BioShield earlier this year to encourage biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies to develop and produce medications and vaccines for biological agents in preparation for possible bioterrorist attacks (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 7/14). The House bill would provide incentives for private companies to work with the NIH and other federal agencies to develop, produce and stockpile drugs and vaccines to combat smallpox, ebola virus, plague, anthrax and other biological agents (New York Times, 7/17). The bill also would give the Department of Homeland Security and HHS new powers and personnel to assess and respond to bioterrorism threats, the Los Angeles Times reports. In addition, the bill would expand the authority of the HHS secretary to declare a national emergency and make drugs and vaccines that have not been approved by the FDA available to the public (Los Angeles Times, 7/17). House Homeland Security Committee Chair Christopher Cox (R-Calif.) said the bill is "by far the most expansive, broadest, largest first responder program initiated in the history of our country" (Abrams, AP/Las Vegas Sun, 7/16). The bill does not provide protection to the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries against lawsuits, one of the industries' "key demands," according to the Los Angeles Times. Republican Reps. Jeff Flake (Ariz.) and Ron Paul (Texas) voted against the legislation (Los Angeles Times, 7/17). The Senate will now consider the BioShield funding bill (New York Times, 7/17). In March, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee unanimously approved a bill (S 15) to authorize Project BioShield (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 3/20).

Renewed Focus on Smallpox Program
In related news, the Washington Post reports that national security officials have launched a public relations campaign to "inject new life" into Bush's smallpox immunization program, which they fear is "all but dead" (Connolly, Washington Post, 7/17). The first phase of the national smallpox vaccination program, which began in January, aimed to vaccinate 500,000 health care workers in its first weeks. As of late last month, about 38,000 health care workers had received the inoculations; in the military's campaign, which is separate from the civilian program, more than 450,000 personnel have been inoculated (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 6/27). According to officials, the United States remains "ill-equipped" to respond to a smallpox attack "without a sizable network of inoculated health care workers," the Post reports. Officials say that concerns over the vaccine's safety should be "quelled" by the military's success in vaccinating personnel without serious complications. William Winkenwerder, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, said, "It is our hope and desire that in relating our experience to the broad general public the point can be made that what we accomplished can be accomplished by others in the civilian sector" (Washington Post, 7/17).