Recent News

By Region: North America

Auditors See Shortcomings in U.S. Biodefense Drug Planning

(GSN Daily News) The U.S. Health and Human Services has failed to produce anticipated revisions to a 4-year-old plan on the preparation of medical products for responding to a biological strike by extremists, congressional auditors said in an assessment published last week (see GSN, Oct. 26). The Government Accountability Office said the department had yet Read More »

November 1, 2011
| Filed under North America, Countermeasures, Policy & Initiatives, and Research
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Bavarian Nordic Receives a USD 25 Million Milestone Payment…

(Reuters) … today announced that it has received a performance-based milestone payment of USD 25 million under the contract with the US government to deliver 20 million doses of its unlicensed smallpox vaccine, IMVAMUNE® to the US Strategic National Stockpile. …

October 31, 2011
| Filed under North America, Biotechnology, Countermeasures, and Public Health
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Federal advisers endorse testing anthrax vaccine in children

(Washington Post) The National Biodefense Science Board (NBSB), which advises the federal government on issues related to bioterrorism, voted 12-1 to recommend that the Health and Human Services Department move forward with a study aimed at determining whether the …

October 31, 2011
| Filed under North America, Countermeasures, Policy & Initiatives, and Public Health
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No anthrax vaccine testing on children for now

(USA Today) Should the anthrax vaccine be tested in children? It will be a while longer before the government decides. AP Jonah Jacobson, a VaxGen lab technician, holds a syringe of anthrax vaccine. AP Jonah Jacobson, a VaxGen lab technician, holds a syringe of …</b

October 31, 2011
| Filed under North America and Countermeasures
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This Sunday: Excuse Me While I Get Fitted for a Hazmat Suit

(New York Times blog) But I urge you to at least read the first section of Wil Hylton’s story about the state of bioterrorism preparedness — it’s only 400 words — and I’ll be surprised if you don’t feel compelled to keep going. Yes, you’ll be a little freaked. …