By Mike Nartker
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — There probably will be more than 286 million doses of smallpox vaccine available by the end of this year, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said today (see GSN, May 10).  According to CDC spokesman Curtis Allen, there will be four sources for the U.S. smallpox vaccine stockpile — two old and two newly established.

There are two existing supplies of vaccine.  A stockpile of Wyeth Dryvax vaccine can provide between 15 million and 75 million doses, depending on the level of dilution (see GSN, March 29).  In addition, pharmaceutical company Aventis Pasteur recently discovered a supply of 70 to 90 million doses (see GSN, April 1).

In order to build a larger stockpile, the United States has awarded British pharmaceutical company Acambis contracts to produce two types of smallpox vaccine (see GSN, Nov. 29, 2001).  One contract is for a one-time order of 155 million doses of the Acam2000 vaccine to be delivered by the end of this year, according to the U.S. Health and Human Services Department.  The second is a 20-year contract for 55 million doses of Acam1000 vaccine per calendar year, said James LeDuc, director of the CDC Division of Viral and Rickettsial Diseases, according to Reuters Health.

The Acambis vaccines, which are currently in clinical trials, are not expected to be licensed until early 2004, according to Reuters Health.  To distribute the doses in the event of a smallpox outbreak, however, the CDC would not have to wait for them to be fully licensed, Allen said.  The doses could be used, but only upon full and informed consent, he said.

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