When fears that terrorists may attack the UK using the Smallpox virus arose, the
Government decided that it must protect its citizens by purchasing large
quantities of Smallpox vaccine.The Department of Health consequently purchased enough vaccine to protect 20
million people, in a contract worth over 32 million GBP.
The expenditure created an instant 'terrorist victory', by causing the
Government to spend a small fortune protecting only one third of its population,
without even having to lift a finger.
The awarding of the contract itself caused a huge amount of disquiet.
The contract was established without being put out to tender, and it soon
emerged that the Chief Executive of Powderject Pharmaceuticals ( the company
providing the vaccine ), Paul Drayson, had donated 50,000 GBP to the Labour
Party just weeks before the contract was finalised.
There was considerable criticism of the Government's decision at the time, and
now the issue has been thrown back into the public arena with an announcement
that US scientists believe the UK has the wrong type of vaccine to be
effective in the event of a terrorist Smallpox attack being launched.
There are a number of different types of vaccines, all of which have been used
by the World Health Organisation to rid the world of Smallpox; the Lister
strain vaccine was used extensively in the UK.
This is the vaccine which the Government has chosen in its fight against a
possible terrorist attack.
America has opted to use a different vaccine which has been proven to be
effective in fighting Smallpox in India. It is believed, in the USA, that this
Indian strain is the most likely to be used in a terrorist attack.
Research by scientists at the Potomac Institute in America, suggests that the UK
has opted for the wrong type of vaccine, and it will be all but ineffective if
it is to be used in anger.
The UK Government immediately defended its decision on using the Lister vaccine,
dismissing claims that it was stockpiling the wrong type. Health Secretary,
Alan Milburn, said that, "The best advice that we've got is that the Smallpox
vaccine we've bought protects against all known forms of the disease".
Steve Prior, one of the Potomac Institute's senior scientists, rejects that,
and claims that there is no evidence to back up the UK Government's decision,
describing it as being indefensible.
Professor John Oxford, of Queen Mary's School of Medicine, had a different
interpretation of the US research, describing it as, "Close to being garbage".
Arguing that there was no evidence that any vaccine was better than another,
he said that, given a choice, he, "Would choose the Lister strain".
This may have been reassuring had it not instantly conjured up images of
John Gummer MP feeding his small child beefburgers, while telling us that BSE
was nothing to be worried about.
Backbench and opposition MP's have demanded that the Government comes clean on
the status of the vaccine chosen, and many have demanded an investigation into
the awarding of the vaccine contract, and a disclosure of the scientific
evidence upon which the choice of the Lister vaccine was based.
Dr Pat Troop, the Government's Deputy Chief Medical Officer, has defended the
decision to not reveal the scientific discussion behind the choice of vaccine
saying that, "It is not possible to put all the advice received into the public
domain for reasons of national security".
Many have pointed out that 'national security' is a convenient excuse to hide
behind when Government decisions are being questioned, but that charge is
robustly denied by the Government. There has, however, been no explanation as
to why the contract was not put out to tender, as it was in the US.
Nor has there been any explanation as to why they only have enough vaccine to
protect one third of the population. Knowing that Smallpox is incurable, and
kills 30% of those infected, has led some to conclude that the Government is
using a crytsal ball, and hopes to protect that 30%. Others have suggested
that the majority of the popoulation is already immune to Smallpox, from
earlier vaccination schemes. It may be enlightening to know what the actual
situation is.
The continued bickering, argument and counter-argument, over what is
scientific fact brings the views of scientists once
more into disrepute, and the complete
lack of openness of the British Government sees the return of dark clouds over
Parliament. The issue of contracts awarded on the back of 'bungs', does nothing
to reduce the increasing number of claims that the New Labour party is as
corrupt as any Government before it, and is fast becoming the master of sleaze.
The citizens who have no control over the decisions taken by Government and its
Ministries, are unable to do anything other than sit back and pray that if a
terrorist attack should arrive, they won't be using a strain of Smallpox for
which we don't hold an effective vaccine.
Whether terrorists would actually want, or need, to wipe out the UK population
is one which makes for an interesting debate. It is more than likely that the
fear of a Smallpox outbreak would have satisfactory results no matter how
effective, ineffective, or on what scale. The country-wide panic across America
in the wake of a few Anthrax attacks, in 2001, reveal just how easy it is for a
terrorist to bring chaos to a country, and force expenditure to protect against
even the most unlikeliest of threats.
If the terrorists are determined to wipe their opposition off the face of the
earth, all they need to do is look at what type of vaccines the UK and US hold,
and choose a virus against which their vaccines are least effective.
That threat alone should make both countries realise that they don't need a
vaccine which protects from the most likely virus to be used, but they need to
have protection against all viruses which may be used. It is Sod's Law
which predicts the most unlikely virus will be used.
Of course, spending unlimited amounts of money to protect its people is not
something that most, naturally tight-fisted, Governments want to do, which is
why the Government is so cagey about having to admit that there is any
possibility that their protection offered is ineffective.
If the Government has to admit that its Smallpox vaccines will be ineffective,
they will have to buy additional vaccines, and the costs will start to mount
up. The terrorists will chalk up more victories on their cave walls, and
will have achieved it with absolutely no effort.
The terrorists may not have won the war, but they are slowly winning the
battles, at least in terms of provoking expenditure on defence.
Ironically, the British, who first used Smallpox as a weapon, against Native
Americans in the 18th Century, only now know what it is like to live under the
threat of such an attack.
