While appearing before a House Joint Subcommittee hearing that focused on the future of the Biowatch program, Dr. Alexander Garza, Assistant Homeland Security Secretary for Health Affairs and Chief Medical Officer for the department, said that the country may well be ready to move forward “with a planned trial initiative to offer anthrax vaccine to select nonmilitary emergency personnel,” reports Government Executive.  Dr. Garza told the subcommittee that “the department is putting the final touches on preparations for soliciting groups who be interested in participating in this pilot project.” He went on: “As you can imagine, this is a very complex endeavor,” referring to challenges in implementing the Defense Department’s mandatory anthrax-vaccination program, “So it is no small feat to do at this time.”

In response to a question from Congresswoman Laura Richardson, the ranking member of the Homeland Security Emergency Preparedness Subcommittee, regarding possible timing, Dr. Garza replied that “the new initiative is fairly close to moving forward, but certain bureaucratic mechanisms made the exact timing of the implementation difficult to predict. If pressed, I would say early next year is a realistic estimate for the rollout.”