Pentagon to limit anthrax shots due to vaccine shortage

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Facing a severe shortage of anthrax vaccine, the Pentagon has decided to limit inoculations to a small number of troops most at risk from the biological agent, CNN has learned.

"We're not stopping the program," a senior Pentagon official told CNN Monday, "We will restructure the program so that a smaller number (of) those most at risk will continue to receive the vaccine."

U.S. troops who are deployed in high risk areas, such as in the Persian Gulf region, will continue to receive the series of shots required to provide full protection against anthrax.

The Pentagon is down to about 100,000 doses of the anthrax vaccine, slightly more than a month's supply at the current vaccination rate of about 75,000 shots a month.

No new anthrax vaccine is being produced because the sole manufacturer of the vaccine, a laboratory operated by the state of Michigan, was sold to a private company, which had financial problems, and had not yet been certified by the FDA.

Pentagon officials hope the new company, Bioport, will receive FDA certification by next month, and begin producing new vaccine by the end of the year.

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