Global Security Newswire

The United Kingdom is stockpiling anthrax vaccine doses to prepare for the threat of a bioterrorism strike using the lethal bacteria at this summer's Olympic Games, the London Evening Standard reported on Wednesday (see GSN, Jan. 4).

London intends to have met its vaccine acquisition goal by April. Schedule overruns from October 2009 to March 2011 had slowed the government's effort to acquire the desired quantity of vaccine doses.

More than 500 British medical personnel including doctors, nurses, paramedics and health researchers have been inoculated against smallpox to ensure there is a prepared health response team to go into action in the event the London games face a threat involving the virus, according to previous reporting.

Biological preparedness is part of a broad security program for the Olympics, scheduled from July 17 to Aug. 12 in the British capital.

The United Kingdom's elite military units will also be on standby to deploy rapidly in the event extremists seek to mount a strike similar to the 2008 terrorist assault on the Indian city of Mumbai. The British Special Air Service and Special Boat Service could also be called in to fly compact fighter helicopters into small areas, the newspaper reported.

Government marksmen stationed in helicopters are to fly above competition sites while the country's largest amphibious assault ship would be stationed in waters near Greenwich. Additionally, Royal Air Force fighter jets are to be redeployed to a military base in west London for the entirety of the games (Nicholas Cecil, London Evening Standard, Jan. 11).