Gov't Urged To Stockpile Vaccines By LAURA MYERS .c The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senators concerned that the nation isn't prepared for biological terrorism urged the government Tuesday to stockpile more anthrax and smallpox vaccines and to develop new ones. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., also called on the Clinton administration to declassify a Pentagon list of some two dozen biological weapons in order to warn Americans, saying he would write a letter to Defense Secretary William Cohen asking him to do so. ``This ought to be on the front burner,'' Specter told a joint hearing of the Veterans Affairs Committee and the Appropriations Committee's health panel, both of which he chairs. ``The American people have a right to know what's happening here.'' Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said the United States is ``way behind in our efforts in dealing with bioterrorism,'' calling the potential danger ``extremely real.'' ``It is as great a threat or a greater threat than the Soviet Union posed to us,'' Rockefeller declared. The Pentagon is inoculating all 2.4 million U.S. troops and reserves against anthrax to protect against possible germ warfare. Vaccine supplies are limited, however, since only one U.S. company manufactures it. Anthrax kills 80 percent of those who inhale germ spores and are not treated. It is not spread by person and can be prevented by antibiotics taken before symptoms appear. Smallpox is a highly contagious, untreatable virus. The disease was eradicated decades ago, but the former Soviet Union and other countries experimented with turning laboratory supplies of the virus into bioweapons, so the risk still exists. Smallpox vaccines are no longer being manufactured, but the U.S. government maintains 6 million to 7 million doses of vaccine. President Clinton last year ordered federal agencies to expand steps against possible chemical and biological attacks in the United States. His fiscal 2000 budget proposes boosting spending by $2.8 billion to safeguard against such attacks, as well as against assaults on sensitive computer networks. The Health and Human Services Department is spending $158 million this year to prepare for possible bioterrorism and is asking for $230 million next year. A top HHS priority is creating a stockpile of treatments and vaccines, focusing first on antibiotics against anthrax and the plague and enhancing the existing smallpox vaccine supply, U.S. officials said. Specter and Rockefeller called for the development of a broader range of vaccines. ``There is a large number of biological threats for which the United States has no vaccine,'' Specter said. Rockefeller added, ``Everything needs to be taken seriously.'' Margaret Hamburg, the HHS assistant secretary for planning and evaluation, said there is ``wide agreement in the scientific community'' that the United States should develop an improved smallpox vaccine. And she agreed other vaccines should be developed, but said it could take years and be costly. There is a potential for runaway anti-terrorism spending, cautioned the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress. ``Our message is not that we should stop funding,'' said Henry Hinton, GAO's assistant comptroller general for national security and international affairs. ``What we see missing from the picture is ... focusing the federal machinery and resources out there to make sure we get to the highest part of the threats.'' Hinton said intelligence assessments conclude the greatest terrorist threats remain conventional weapons, such as bombs that destroyed a federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995 and hit two U.S. embassies in Africa last year. A Japanese cult's release of the nerve gas sarin in a Tokyo subway in March 1995 -- killing 12 people and injuring more than 5,000 -- raised global concerns about bioterrorism.
