Corona Daily 158: The Emergent Story: Part Two

In 2007, an expert firm was invited to analyse the benefits of anthrax vaccines. Its analysis showed antibiotics were important in an anthrax attack, vaccines didn’t add any real additional value. Over the next ten years, analysts wrote the same conclusion: anthrax vaccine benefits were marginal.

The Emergent spokeswoman, while dismissing the analysis, said the government considered “many different factors” before making the purchase.

The stockpile always had a goal of maintaining a minimum of 75 million doses of the anthrax vaccine, which considering anthrax was not infectious, was a very high figure. What was the science behind this figure? NYT’s interview with Dr Kenneth Bernard, a biodefence advisor to George Bush, revealed it. He recalled a casual meeting after the 2001 attacks. One person at the meeting said he couldn’t imagine the terrorists attacking more than three cities simultaneously. So, they took the population of a large city (say, New York: 8+ million) and multiplied it by three to get 25 million. Since the anthrax vaccine needed three doses, the figure became 75 million. This informal talk from 2001 led to a contractual commitment to Emergent.

*****

To the media, and the stock markets, Emergent kept hammering the message: If you ask the head of the House intelligence committee what worried him most, he would say: Number one – anthrax. Number two-anthrax. Number three-anthrax. (Parallelly, work was carried out to influence the intelligence committee so they should really start believing in it).

Emergent’s board openly said they had no marketing expense, only lobbying expense. Since 2010, Emergent spent $3 million a year on lobbying, an enormous budget considering the size of the company.

In 2015, in view of the tight budgets, the stockpile managers recommended reducing anthrax vaccine purchases and using the money for other needs. That year, Emergent spent $4 million on lobbying. Lamar Alexander, a Republican senator, was an influential member of two committees overseeing the stockpile. His private firm was appointed to lobby against the proposals. Alexander received campaign contributions. In the USA, lobbying and campaign contributions legitimize and purify corruption.

The Emergent spokeswoman said the lobbying was necessary because government investment in biodefence had not been as strongly prioritized as it should be.

Chris Frech, who worked for George Bush, was appointed Emergent’s chief-in-house lobbyist. That year, Emergent contributed to the campaigns of all Democrats and Republicans on key committees that mattered.

When the Obama administration tried to reduce the purchases of anthrax vaccine, the Republican Congress accused them of going soft on terrorism.

The 2015 lobbying proved effective. Senate overseers opposed the reduction, and bought $300 million worth of BioTherax vaccine that nobody really needed.

*****  

In 2016, CDC announced the new contract would be for six rather than nine million doses. Emergent stock price plummeted. Emergent lobbyists promptly swung into action. They reached out to Senator Roy Blunt, the head of the committee controlling the stockpile budget. The same week, Emergent donated $10,000 to Blunt’s re-election campaign. Through the media, Emergent warned of job losses and ruin for the company if contract volume was reduced. Michigan, where Emergent was situated, was a swing state, and job losses there would hamper Hillary Clinton’s chances in the state. The US government gave in, and offered a $100 million bailout to Emergent, and retained the volumes.

*****

In the same year, 2016, one company had pitched a reusable mask for the stockpile. Federal officials were interested, but had no money. In April last year, the US government placed an order for 10 million masks with the same company. Faced with manufacturing challenges, it was unable to supply and the deal was cancelled. The current goal of the stockpile is to have 300 million respirators. When coronavirus emerged last year, the stockpile had 12 million.

*****

(Third and final part tomorrow).

Ravi