The Dangerous Decline in the United States Military’s Infectious Disease Vaccine Program

With the burgeoning concern for weaponized bio-agents, the Department of Defense (DOD) has partitioned its biodefense and infectious disease vaccine acquisition programs, with biodefense vaccines holding a higher acquisition priority and receiving more robust funding than infectious disease vaccines. As a result, the military’s infectious disease vaccine program has lost considerable emphasis, funding and mission capability, with a significant erosion of the DOD’s ability to ensure the acquisition and availability of the right vaccines at the right time to optimally protect US forces from established and emerging natural infections now and in the future. To mitigate these risks, this paper argues that the DOD must: collectively assess and prioritize all biological threats, whether natural, accidental or deliberate in nature; consolidate redundant vaccine acquisition activities; elevate the priority of infectious disease vaccines; and provide ample resources to sustain a robust vaccine acquisition capability to protect US military forces against validated and prioritized biological threats.This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.