The National Strategic Stockpile: Will It Really Protect the Nation against Bioterrorism?

Abstract

This paper assesses one of the key components of the nation’s defense against bioterrorism—the National Strategic Stockpile. The Stockpile was created by the Bioterrorism Act of 2002 and Project Bioshield in 2004, with a mandate to procure sufficient vaccines, medicines and other products to avert or contain a public health crisis in the event of a bioterrorist attack. Currently, the Stockpile lacks critical countermeasures and next generation vaccines because they have not yet been developed. Congress has attempted to provide the conditions necessary for the private sector to create these products for the National Stockpile, but Congress’s efforts have largely failed thus far. This paper will examine both aspects of the National Strategic Stockpile: first it will examine the legislation providing for the National Strategic Stockpile and the strategy to provide the private market with incentives to develop priority countermeasures. Second, this paper will then analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the legislation and offer recommendations for future governmental actions to ensure the successful build-up of a robust National Strategic Stockpile.