HHS (anthrax) vaccine contract was 'suspect,' says Sen. Grassley

[Rose Siding]

The Health and Human Services (HHS) Department’s decision last fall to award an $877 million anthrax-vaccine contract to a single company was “highly suspect,” Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) wrote to department Secretary Michael Leavitt.

The committee is reviewing the contract, which was given to California-based VaxGen Inc. as part of Project BioShield, a federal program to develop drugs that can be used against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear agents. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee is also conducting a review.
...
Grassley listed several other “troubling allegations” made about the contract, including questions about why the VaxGen vaccine, which has yet to be proven effective in people, was favored over an existing vaccine approved by the Food and Drug Administration and manufactured by Michigan-based BioPort.

http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/030105/grassley.html

[Trillo]

1. Wanna bet they can't divulge the reasons due to national security?

"questions about why the (unapproved) VaxGen vaccine ... was favored over an (approved) existing vaccine"

[htuttle]

2. If T. Thompson was involved, the bidding was corrupt -- bank on it

It's Tommy's way when dealing with government contracts -- he can't help it.

It's his nature.