Germany Ready for Biological Warfare?

As the possibility of a war in Iraq becomes increasingly imminent, fears of a terrorist attack on the German population are growing. For several months, the German government has been stepping up on measures to protect the population against an attack, in particular one using a biological weapon such as small pox or cholera.

On Wednesday, Health Minister Ulla Schmidt announced the latest in the government's plans to protect the population, declaring it had begun procuring large stocks of the small pox vaccine and will continue to increase supplies on hand.

Currently the government has stocks for 35 million small pox vaccinations and aims to acquire enough for 100 million vaccinations by the end of 2003. With these stocks, the government hopes to be able to vaccinate 80 million people in the case of an attack.

So far the government has refrained from implementing a general vaccination for the population. Health experts warn that one to two people in a million can die from small pox vaccination and a further 1,000 have serious side effects. In addition, immunisation is possible up to four days after an infection.

Small samples left

Small pox is an extremely dangerous virus as it cannot be fought with antibiotics. The disease is known to kill more than 30 percent of its victims. Since obligatory small pox vaccination was abolished in 1976, adults' resistance today to the virus is regarded as weak and younger people are thought to have no protection at all.

In 1980, smalll pox vaccination become superfluous: the World Health Organisation declared small pox as officially eradicated. However, small samples were kept in highly protected laboratories in both the United States and in Russia. Whether strains of these samples have been obtained by terrorist organisations is hard to say. However, officials in both the US and in Europe believe this could be highly possible.

No advance vaccination

The US began vaccinating military personnel and emergency workers last year and have now started taking precautions at US military bases in Germany. On Wednesday, Health Minister Schmidt repeated that there would be no small pox vaccinations in advance in Germany and that in the case of an attack, the first to be vaccinated would be medical personnel.

The government's plans are said to cost 160 million euros. News magazine Focus estimates them to reach 380 million ($390 million), including procurement and storage. Who will eventually pay for these costs, whether the federal government or the individual states, is still not clear.

Not fast enough

While the government is still arguing about financing, critics maintain that Berlin is not moving fast enough to counter a threat that could lead to the death of millions of people in the case of a large-scale attack.

According to Günther Beckstein, Interior Minister of Bavaria, precious time is being lost. Last month he complained that the government still did not have a comprehensive reaction plan to a biological attack. Bavaria is the only state to have set up vaccine disbursement centers and have doctors standing ready to carry out large-scale vaccinations.

Others are echoing the sentiment. Oliver Thränert from the German Institute for International Politics and Security said Germany is unprepared in the area of training and equipment, as well as in medical care, should a large number of people be affected.

But Health Minister Schmidt has repeatedly assured that Germany is well prepared in the case of a biological attack. On Wednesday she said that Germany was not in imminent danger of an attack, and warned of "causing panic".