Thursday, July 25, 2002

Had top secret conference call with Jerry Hauer (HHS), Phil Russell (HHS), Stewart Simonson (HHS), and Lester Crawford (FDA). Subject – VP Cheney has indicated that we will hit Iraq soon and we expect retaliation with a smallpox attack on us or on Israel. Cheney wants us to greatly accelerate the process of getting vaccine available to vaccinate everyone if necessary. I offered to accelerate studies to determine if we can dilute the Dryvax even more than 1:5 and whether we can also dilute the 77 million doses of Aventis Pasteur WetVax. Stay tuned. The House and the Senate Committees have adapted the language that I had suggested to Richard Falkenrath. Therefore, at this time it appears that the money will go to DHHS, the overall prioritization will rest with DHS, the strategic plan and specific priorities will be the responsibility of DHHS in consultation with DHS and the research will be executed by and through the NIH. If this holds, I will have won a big victory.