An agency, quietly, would spur vaccines

''We must ensure the federal government acts as a partner with the private sector, providing the incentives and protections necessary to bring more and better drugs and vaccines to market faster," Senator Richard Burr, a Republican of North Carolina, said when the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions approved the bill.

The agency would provide the funding for development of treatments and vaccines to protect the United States from natural pandemics, as well as chemical, biological, and radiological agents.

But the secrecy and immunity provisions of the legislation have alarmed patient rights and open-government advocates. The agency would be exempt from the Freedom of Information Act and theFederal Advisory Committee Act. Both are considered key for monitoring government accountability.

''There is no other agency that I am aware of where the agency is totally exempt either from FOIA or FACA," said Pete Weitzel, coordinator of the Coalition of Journalists for Open Government. The coalition is an alliance of journalism groups, including the American Society of Newspaper Editors and Associated Press Managing Editors, that wrote to lawmakers seeking amendments to the bill. ''That is a cause for major concern and should raise major policy concerns," Weitzel said.

A Burr spokesman, Doug Heye, said the provisions would keep competitors from gaining proprietary information through FOIA. However, confidential information is exempt from FOIA. ''There's no secrecy involved in BARDA," Heye said. ''This is an agency that will be putting out information daily."

Some Democrats question whether the public would accept drugs or vaccines developed with the agency, citing the abortive 2003 effort to vaccinate 500,000 front-line healthcare workers against smallpox. Only about 40,000 workers ultimately received the vaccine amid concerns about its safety.