Bioterrorism plan aims at readiness and vaccinations

WASHINGTON -- Wary of another bioterrorist attack, federal health officials are proposing a budget plan aimed at building new laboratories, improving hospital readiness and figuring out how to vaccinate the entire population of cities in the middle of a crisis.

Leading the effort is a hero of public health: D.A. Henderson, who directed the campaign to eradicate smallpox from the globe and has returned to government service at age 73.

Henderson, who began working for the Department of Health and Human Services in the days after Sept. 11, expects another bioterrorism attack sooner rather than later. He's focusing on preparation that went lacking for years, when the possibility of a bioterrorist attack seemed more remote.

"We cannot, in the period of one year with just a dollop of money, suddenly have a good public health system," he said in an interview. "It isn't a matter of just buying an extra aircraft carrier. You've got to develop this over time."

Congress has already set aside $2.9 billion for bioterrorism preparation, with much of that slated to buy smallpox vaccine and stockpile antibiotics. President Bush plans to ask for hundreds of millions more in his budget plan for next year, and the administration is focusing on the hard work of preparation at the state and local level.

It's part of the administration's overall homeland security plan. Bush is expected to request nearly double the current $13 billion for the upcoming budget year. That includes "unprecedented support" for cities to pay for police, firefighters and emergency medical technicians, Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge told mayors Wednesday.

Also Wednesday, officials announced that they had doubled, to $2.5 million, the reward for information leading to the arrest of the sender of four anthrax-tainted letters.

As director of the newly created Office of Public Health Preparedness, Henderson will have a major say in how the bioterrorism money is spent. His office has authority to direct the bioterrorism effort across agencies within the massive department.

Henderson gave an overview of the department's plans, to be detailed in the coming days. Among the priorities:

Create a half dozen new regional laboratories. There are now 81 labs around the country that handle identification of commonly seen bacteria, but they are not specialized and don't have much experience working with potential bioterrorist material. Two national labs handle the most dangerous substance, but they are too busy to handle every suspicious threat. So HHS wants to build a half dozen mid-range labs trained to recognize rare but potentially deadly materials.

Help cities develop plans for vaccinating and distributing antibiotics to large numbers of people. The federal government is purchasing enough drugs to treat people who may be exposed to hazardous agents. But cities must designate treatment centers and figure out how to transport the supplies from the airport to the centers.

Develop round-the-clock reporting systems between hospital emergency rooms and state health departments. Local doctors must have experts to check with when they see patients with unusual symptoms, which could be the first sign of a bioterrorist attack, but often the health department is only staffed during business hours.

Develop better public information. For instance, fact sheets about the five biological agents that pose the greatest threat should be ready to go in the case of a crisis.