Homeland Security Stockpiling Billions of Dollars of Experimental Vaccines

The U.S. Government has guaranteed a thriving U.S. vaccine market for pharmaceutical companies by purchasing billions of dollars worth of vaccines every year with U.S. taxpayer dollars. The CDC is the largest purchaser of vaccines in the U.S., spending over $4 billion annually to purchase vaccines that are approved by the FDA. Since the CDC is the government agency responsible for overseeing vaccine safety, this creates a huge conflict of interest. However, this is another U.S. Government agency purchasing billions of dollars’ worth of vaccines. The Department of Homeland Security, created shortly after the terrorist attacks of September 2001, has been authorized by Congress to purchase and stockpile billions of dollars of experimental vaccines that are not approved by the FDA, to use on American citizens during a time of a "national emergency" as defined by the U.S. Government. One might think that the only time an unapproved vaccine could be authorized for use would be during a time of national crisis, such as a biological terrorist attack. The fact is, however, that the government has broad powers to use unapproved vaccines whenever they want to, and have already done so.