HHS will restock the country's supply of smallpox vaccines through a $170 million deal with Emergent BioSolutions, the agency announced Sept. 3.
Three things to know:
1. Emergent BioSolutions could receive up to $2.8 billion from HHS over the next 10 years to replenish the vaccine stockpile.
2. The Department of Defense uses some of the stockpiled vaccines to immunize military members traveling to high-risk areas.
3. HHS also stockpiles the vaccine as a biodefense measure. Few people are vaccinated against smallpox today, as the World Health Organization deemed the illness eradicated in 1980.