The Army experience and involvement in disease and bio agents goes way deeper than that, it goes farther than just their research and testing for cures and vaccines.
“” More than half of the routine vaccines given to service members today were codeveloped by the US military. Beyond protection of its own forces, the military’s advances also created solutions to diseases of dire importance to national and international public health. Of 15 adult vaccines licensed in the United States since 1962, the DOD played a significant role in developing eight.””
“” The U.S. military has stationed uniformed scientists in the tropics for more than 100 years, and itsh active overseas laboratories have been in place for as long as 58 years. Military scientists live and work in the tropics to study the disease threats in naturally affected populations. Countermeasures and candidate solutions are studied through all phases of development including field testing. These military scientists serve as goodwill ambassadors, and contribute to developing health and science infrastructure in these tropical countries. Enduring relationships between tropical DoD facilities and ministries of health, international healthcare facilities, and local healthcare providers and researchers are of great value to the U.S. at a time when diseases such as SARS and avian influenza are potential global threats. The global MIDRP military presence provides a real-time early warning system in the identification and assessment of new and reemerging disease. Data from around the world is collected, analyzed, and immediately disseminated to military leadership and other agencies by the military’s DoD Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and Response System (DoD-GEIS) at the Armed Forces Health and Surveillance Center (AFHSC).
The MIDRP’s capabilities include basic science (discovery and the knowledge base to develop technological approaches) pre-clinical product optimization, and advanced animal model development. Clinical trials expertise for early FDA Phase 1 testing of drugs and vaccines through large (e.g. 42,000 volunteers for hepatitis A vaccine, and 62,000 volunteers for Japanese encephalitis vaccine) pivotal Phase 3 trials in developing nations is an especially valuable asset of the MIDRP. The DoD also has high containment laboratories, pilot Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) compliant bioproduction facilities, and FDA regulatory expertise in the U.S. and in many international settings.”
What part of that includes providing medical care to anyone let alone Americans?