The shortage of lifesaving medical equipment last year was a searing example of the government’s failed coronavirus response. As health workers resorted to wearing trash bags, one Maryland company profited by selling anthrax vaccines to the country’s emergency reserve.
Emergent, led by Robert Kramer (bottom right), has long dominated the national stockpile’s budget with its anthrax vaccines. Dr. Nicole Lurie (top right) unsuccessfully tried to scale back the investment during the Obama years. Her successor, Dr. Robert Kadlec (top left), was a Trump appointee focused on bioterrorism. Sales remained high through the pandemic.Eleanor Shakespeare