It would be critical to rapidly distribute antibiotics and vaccines, a task Bush administration officials acknowledge they could not adequately do today.

Edible vaccines could be especially important for developing countries, which often lack resources to distribute and preserve injectable vaccines.

In much of Congo, for example, it is impossible to get goods to market, to distribute vaccines, to get children feverish with malaria to a clinic.

Public health officials swung into action - manufacturing and distributing vaccines to 40 million Americans.

He has continually pressed the Department of Health and Human Services to distribute vaccines and antiviral medications quickly.

It will go to a nonprofit health organization in Seattle to find better ways to distribute recently developed vaccines.

Although Mr. Clinton proposed that the Government distribute free vaccines to all children, Congress adopted a more modest program focusing on children from low-income families.

He said the emergency allows the state to distribute vaccines to those considered most in need: infants, seniors, the chronically ill and health care workers.

Another advantage of the new system is its stability, an important factor in distributing vaccines in third-world countries.

I therefore welcome the measures taken by some European businesses, which, in a show of solidarity with the people of these countries, distribute essential medicines or vaccines.