Why Anthrax Vaccine Is Scarce — “The vaccine against anthrax is in the hands of a single company that is running out of money, hasn’t gained FDA approval for the vaccine or its manufacturing facilities and hasn’t produced a single dose of the vaccine since it took over production in 1998.

The entire United States is relying on BioPort, of Lansing, Michigan, to produce the anthrax vaccine, for which demand has spiked since Sept. 11. The company has supplied the military with only half a million doses out of 14 million promised, leaving even front-line military personnel unprotected in the event of a bio-terrorism attack.

The company, which would not return phone calls, has a spotty past, and possibly not much of a future if Congress passes the Defense Authorization bill, which includes an amendment that would bring the production of the anthrax vaccine under government control.” Wired