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CNN Live At Daybreak

Anthrax Investigation: Interview of Health and Human Services Secretary Thompson

Aired October 17, 2001 - 07:19   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The anthrax attacks are forcing authorities both here and overseas to take some new precautions. And preparing for a bioterrorist attack is now a key missing of the new Homeland Security Office. The Bush administration is seeking new funds to beef up stockpiles of anthrax antibiotics.

Joining me now from the White House to talk more about that and other issues is Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson.

Good to see you. Thanks for joining us this morning.

TOMMY THOMPSON, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: Thank you very much, Paula.

ZAHN: First off, sir, I wanted to talk about some information that CNN has learned about the anthrax found in the letter sent to Sen. Tom Daschle's office. It's being described as high grade, very virulent, and sophisticated, suggesting that some wacko in his garage wouldn't be able to make this kind of potent, potent anthrax.

How much does this narrow your investigation?

THOMPSON: Well, the investigation is being done by the FBI. My department is in the process, of course, of responding to any medical contingencies that may develop, Paula, and that's why we're going on Capitol Hill today to request an additional $1,600,000,000 for more medical supplies and to strengthen the local and state public health system.

ZAHN: And I know that you say there's plenty of Cipro to go around, but there are plenty of people in America that are very concerned there is not enough to go around, Sen. Schumer calling on the government actually to stockpile the generic brand of Cipro. Does the government plan to do that?

THOMPSON: Well, what we intend to do is we intend to ask Congress for an additional $600 million to purchase some additional Cipro as well as other antibiotics, so that we could treat 12 million individuals if they came in contact with any anthrax.

And I also want to point out that anthrax is not contagious, and therefore, we feel that the amount that we have right now we can respond to. But we're going to make sure that we have additional supplies in case we need it, and also we have other antibiotics that have also been proven to be very helpful to prevent this kind of infection.

ZAHN: But Mr. Secretary, you still didn't address my question. You said you were going to seek $600 million to purchase more of this Cipro. Will it be the kind that Bayer manufactures, or will it be the generic kind, as Sen. Schumer wants you all to buy?

THOMPSON: Bayer has the patent right now, and I was in contact with them yesterday and have been in consultation with them, and they're going to be able to produce 200 million additional pills over the course of the next three months, and we are in the process of negotiating with them. We also are looking at Senator Schumer's suggestion and looking at the legal ramifications as well as the legal authority to see if we can do that. But at the present time it does not look like we have the legal authority to do so, Paula.

ZAHN: But clearly there must be an economic issue here that Sen. Schumer has talked about. The charge for one pill of Cipro is $4.67 a pill? You all acknowledge that it would be a heck of a lot cheaper to buy the stuff generically, wouldn't it?

THOMPSON: It depends upon whether or not they could produce it in the same quantities, in the same potency as Bayer. But Bayer has a patent, and under the patent laws they're the individuals that we have to purchase it from. And our lawyers at the Food and Drug Administration indicate that we do not have the authority to purchase any place but Bayer at this point and time, Paula.

ZAHN: OK.

And Mr. Secretary, I also wanted to move on to the threat of smallpox. Governor Ridge, the director of the Homeland Security Office now, suggested yesterday that we should think about beginning to vaccinate children against this disease. I know you've been working to try to speed up the development of the vaccination. Realistically, what can you tell Americans about when they could expect to have access to these vaccinations for their children?

THOMPSON: Well, Paula, right now we have in store 15.4 million dosages of smallpox vaccine, and we are going to be asking Congress this morning for an additional $500 million, to request some additional smallpox vaccination. We already have a contract for 40 million, and we're going to increase that contract by quite a considerable amount.

ZAHN: And if you increase that contract by quite a considerable amount, are we talking about the vaccination being available within months, or a year, or what are we talking about here?

THOMPSON: We are expecting that vaccination to be ready very, very quickly, within several months, Paula. And we're hoping to be able to enter into negotiations that could start the delivery of smallpox vaccine relatively quickly and possibly even this year.

ZAHN: And how concerned are you, as we close this off this morning, about the threat of a smallpox infection?

THOMPSON: Right now we haven't seen any suggestion or any type of threats on smallpox. We are also very vigilant, however, the FBI is, and the intelligence sources, and we do have 15.4 million dosages in hand right now if, in fact, we do find any smallpox. But I've got to point out that there has not been any smallpox in America or the world since the early 1970s.

ZAHN: All right, thanks for putting that into perspective for us this morning, Mr. Secretary. Appreciate your dropping by. Good of you to join us.

THOMPSON: Thank you very much, Paula.

ZAHN: And now we continue with what is going on on the investigative front in Washington. One law enforcement official says the anthrax contaminated letter to Sen. Daschle's office contained references to Allah, the Arabic word for God. And today the offices of 12 senators near the majority leader's office are closed.

Let's go to three of our correspondents, beginning with Kate Snow, on Capitol Hill -- good morning, Kate.

KATE SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

More than 1,000 people tested in the Hart Senate Office Building yesterday. That's where Sen. Tom Daschle's office is. All of these folks were in the area at the time that the letter was opened on Monday. They were tested yesterday for exposure to anthrax. One concern is that potentially it could the anthrax spores have gotten into the ventilation system in that building.

Authorities are downplaying that possibility, but just to be safe, they told everyone who wanted to get tested that they could be tested yesterday. And so staffers, lobbyists, journalists all lined up, waited about an hour to give samples. They were all given a three day supply of the antibiotic Cipro.

About 40 to 50 people were actually inside Sen. Daschle's office on Monday, when that letter was opened. The senator tells CNN that so far none of his staff have shown any signs of symptoms or infection.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. THOMAS DASCHLE (D-SD), MAJORITY LEADER: Because we were able to treat the exposure immediately with antibiotics, because it was all handled so professionally, we feel 100 percent certain that we've been able to deal with this in a way that will minimize, if not completely eliminate any cause for concern.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNOW: This morning, 12 Senate offices around Senator Daschle's area of that building remain closed. Mail into the Capitol complex has also been put on hold. Congressional aides say that later this morning they expect a document from the White House to arrive here, outlining how the president would like to spend some $20 billion already allocated in emergency spending. We understand part of that request will be to spend some of that money on Capitol Hill security.

Now, back to John Zarrella, in Florida, with more on the case of anthrax in Boca Raton -- John.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thank you, Kate.

The story here this morning is that the 300 employees of AMI, who have already been given one blood test, will start reporting again for a second round of blood tests. Those blood tests to be taken over the next couple of days, the blood samples to be sent to the CDC for analysis. The reason is that two sets of blood were always expected to be taken, the first to give a baseline for health investigators as to whether there were any antibodies present. And, in fact, in a number of those -- a very small number -- antibodies did show up in heightened numbers in the blood.

So this second test will help investigators a better idea if there are even increased levels beyond what they saw the first time as to whether there is anthrax infection or exposure in any of the other 300 people who worked here at AMI. It will take several days for those tests to come back.

And also, a little bit of a controversy today arising over Ernesto Blanco, the mail room employee who worked here who has been hospitalized in Miami for a couple of weeks. It was widely reported yesterday that -- in fact, it had been confirmed -- that he, in fact, did have the anthrax infection. At first it was thought just he had been exposed to anthrax, then said it was definitely an anthrax infection. Now a little bit of a backing off by state health officials, saying that they're not sure. He probably does, but they're not going to commit to that at this point.

One reason is they've never been able to isolate the anthrax bacteria in his body. The Centers for Disease Control is saying, however, that they do believe he has anthrax.

The only person who has died here in Florida is Bob Stevens, who was the photo editor who also worked at AMI, and he is the first and only anthrax death in the state and still among the only confirmed cases, perhaps up to three total here, but perhaps more, once the blood samples are returned in a few days -- health officials are saying, though, not likely that there would be too many, based on the first blood tests, where only a very small handful tested at all positive for higher levels of antibodies.

Now, we head north to my colleague Jason Carroll, in New York.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And John, the baby that was infected with anthrax here at ABC is doing well, responding to antibiotics, and is expected to make a full recovery. In terms of the investigation, health officials at this point are focusing on the second and third floors, specifically, some of the edit bays up on those floors. They are in the process of retracing the steps of the baby boy and his mother, who is a producer here at ABC, when they paid a visit to ABC for a birthday party back on September 28.

Health officials say that they have questioned a little more than 100 people. So far no one else here at ABC is showing any signs at all of being infected with anthrax.

Also, in the wake of what's happened, health officials checked out several other news organizations -- the mail rooms here in New York City -- once again, just as a precaution.

Again, the baby is expected to make a full recovery. He has a skin form of anthrax, which is usually treatable with antibiotics -- Paula.

ZAHN: Jason, thanks so much.

John Zarrella, Kate Snow, appreciate all of your reports this morning.

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