Committee passes 'Bioshield' plan minus compensation program

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Wednesday unanimously approved a bill to authorize President Bush's "Bioshield" proposal to facilitate the development and production of vaccines and treatments for bioterror agents.

But in the face of Democratic objections, Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chairman Judd Gregg, R-N.H., Tuesday night was forced to temporarily jettison two other sections of the bill-a section that would create a compensation program for healthcare workers and "first responders" who suffer side effects from the smallpox vaccine, and a section that would make a series of changes to the existing program that compensates families of children injured by side effects of vaccines to prevent measles and other childhood illnesses.

While Health, Education, Labor and Pensions ranking member Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said the "Bioshield" proposal "makes a lot of sense," he added that the smallpox plan offered by Gregg and the Bush administration still needs work. "We are asking people to do things in order to protect all of us," Kennedy said of the health workers and first responders the administration wants to vaccinate.

"They are being put at risk for the protection of all of us," he added. Both Kennedy and Gregg said they hoped to work out a mutually acceptable plan in time for a markup next week. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., urged them to hurry. If healthcare workers are not vaccinated, he said, "they cannot vaccinate us."