The US Defence Department announced on Friday a $29.7 million order for anthrax vaccine based on the assumption that a federal judge's ban on mandatory inoculations will be reversed.
Privately held BioPort Corp of Lansing, Michigan, was awarded the Army order on Wednesday as part of a $245.6 million contract, the Pentagon said.
The move demonstrates confidence "we will resume the anthrax vaccination program as it existed before the judge's order," said Bryan Whitman, a Defence Department spokesman.
On December 22 US District Judge Emmet Sullivan barred the Pentagon from "inoculating service members without their consent."
In a preliminary injunction, he ruled the vaccine used in the Pentagon's mandatory programme was an "investigational drug" being used for what was an unapproved purpose.
The Pentagon said the next day it would administer the vaccine only on a voluntary basis until the legal issues were sorted out.
On Tuesday the US Food and Drug Administration said the anthrax vaccine was safe for use in protecting US troops against inhaled exposure to the potentially deadly bacteria.
The Bush administration then asked the court to lift the ban on mandatory shots.
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