Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Saturday

Bush Administration Moves Ahead With Plans to Make Sure U.S. Has Enough Smallpox Vaccines

Aired December 01, 2001 - 15:45   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: The Bush administration moved ahead with plans this week to make sure that it has enough smallpox vaccine on hand, and it wants to protect everyone in the country from the virus, a potential weapon for terrorists.

And Dr. Michael Friedman is a former commissioner with the Food and Drug Administration, and he's joining us from Washington. And thanks for being with us today, but first we should say that that move was the administration signing a $428 million contract to see that enough vaccine are produced, another 155 million vaccines to be produced so that everyone in the U.S. population will be covered. But I have to ask you, Dr. Friedman, you know, should the U.S. be confident that the vaccine is forthcoming?

DR. MICHAEL FRIEDMAN, FORMER FDA COMMISSIONER: I think that the country should be very confident. The process that was put in place by the Department of Health and Human Services and the vigorous efforts by the pharmaceutical industry give me tremendous confidence that the doses will be available. It will be a high-quality vaccine. And it will protect the American public, should it be needed.

CALLAWAY: But that could be, they say, late next year. That's a bit unsettling.

FRIEDMAN: Well, some of the doses are available now. What Secretary Thompson has said is up to perhaps 75 million doses would be available almost immediately. The full 300 million doses will not be available until next year. That's a formidable task, it's very difficult to make that much new vaccine, but I believe that there is such tremendous commitment on the part of the industry generally to meet this public need that we will be successful.

CALLAWAY: Yeah, but it does seem that they are obviously having to put rush on this order, if you will, and it leads me to wonder, you know, how safe is that vaccine going to be?

FRIEDMAN: I think the vaccine is based upon a previous vaccine which has shown itself to be very, very effective. Every medical intervention has side effects, so of course there will be some people who would not tolerate it well. But the number of side effects in the past has been very, very small. Perhaps only four or six out of every million people who got an immunization would have a serious or life- threatening toxicity. It is unfortunate for those individuals, but I think the country can feel secure that this will be an effective vaccine.

CALLAWAY: You know, but even the vaccine, as you just mentioned, no guarantee that there wouldn't be some type of crisis should smallpox be exposed to the U.S. population. This is a virus that spreads incredibly fast; you could just be in the same room and get it.

FRIEDMAN: Well, that's certainly true. But fortunately, so many of us, especially the older people in the United States, have had vaccinations as children. And there is evidence that some residual benefits of that vaccination 10, 20, 30, 40 years ago still confers benefits for the public.

CALLAWAY: Dr. Friedman, we're talking about a lot of money here. It appears somebody is getting rich on this. Do you think the government is getting a fair deal?

FRIEDMAN: Well, I am not privy to the discussions on the exact contracting procedure. I think as a citizen I would take issue with you. What we are talking about is not even the cost of part of one of our modern stealth bombers, not even one. This seems to me like a very small amount of money to protect our entire population with a vaccine that we know to be effective.

CALLAWAY: You know, this is one of the most vicious diseases out there, and we have to think of the impossible in this new world. When there were rumors of anthrax, a lot of people were saying impossible and now you know what has happened. Do you see smallpox as a real threat right now?

FRIEDMAN: I think the government is best able to give us advice about how credible they think that the threat is. The fact that the government has asked for this must mean that they believe it to be a real hazard. Our responsibility, I think, is as the government identifies these risks, to quickly and vigorously move to protect the American public.

CALLAWAY: All right. Dr. Friedman, thank you for being with us today.

FRIEDMAN: You're very welcome.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com