Good Old Crony-Corruption Is Still In Vogue

After Robert Kadlec was confirmed as President Trump’s top official for public health preparedness in 2017, he began pressing to increase government stocks of a smallpox vaccine. His office ultimately made a deal to buy up to $2.8 billion of the vaccine from a company that once paid Kadlec as a consultant, a connection he did not disclose on a Senate questionnaire when he was nominated.

Under the agreement struck last year with Emergent BioSolutions, Kadlec’s office at the Department of Health and Human Services is paying more than double the price per dose it had previously paid for the drug. Because Emergent is the only licensed maker of the vaccine, Kadlec’s office arrived at the price through negotiations with the company rather than through bidding.
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Kadlec scaled back a long-standing interagency process for spending billions of dollars on stockpile purchases, diminishing the role of government experts and restricting decision-making to himself and a small circle of advisers, according to three former officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

Besides giving lucrative contracts to friend, Kadlec was also dismissive of the idea of a naturally-occuring pandemic. So he focused on anthrax and stuff like that while ignoring infectious diseases, you know, the things that came close to triggering two global pandemics in the `00s (SARS and H1N1).

Ethically challenged and wearing blinders-- the guy was indeed a good fit for the Trump Administration.