A reply arrived from Col. John M Castleberry, dated 16 August 1995. As I had requested the answer was very detailed, much to detailed to include it all here, however, I present his written reply here:
I am writing in reply to your 7 July 1995 correspondence concerning information regarding plague vaccine.
You are correct in that our organisation, the Defense Personnel Support Center ("DPSC") of the Defense Logistics Agency, served as a procuring agent for the United States Armed Forces. In 1989, DPSC awarded a contract to Miles Cutter Laboratories for the plague vaccine. The contract was number DLA120-89-D-0618. The last delivery under this contract was in September 1993.
The vaccine is a stocked depot item. This means it was purchased to be stored in a depot until required by a military customer rather than being purchsed for one specific branch of the Armed Forces. The plague vaccine was not procured for either the United Kingdom or any other foriegn government. Although DPSC does not have records of where the vaccine was shipped to by batch number, the lot number referrenced in your letter, 10H03A, was delivered to Mechanicsburg Depot in November 1990. Attached to this letter are copies of the contract award document and DD250 forms that reflect delivery dates and locations.
As DPSC is primarliy a buying activity, the contract are administered by other components of the Defense Logistics Agency. The contract referred to above was adminsitered by:
Defense Contract Management Area Operations Hartford
130 Darlin Street
East Hartford, CT 06108-3232
In resonse to your request as to whether the vaccine was tested whislt in the possession of United States authorities, our procedure is to buy drugs that have been approved by the Federal Drug Administration. Therefore, additional testing is not usually required. DPSC does usually pull a small number of samples that are forwarded to and retained by Walter Reed Medical Center.
I hope this information is helpful to you.
| Top of Page | Current Section Index |
|---|