Edition: U.S. / Global  THWARTING TERROR: A special report.;
Germ Defense Plan in Peril As Its Flaws Are Revealed  Published:
August 7, 1998  On May 22, President Clinton unveiled an
ambitious plan to stockpile vaccines at strategic sites around
the country so communities could better fight germ attacks. ''We
must do more to protect our civilian population,'' Mr. Clinton
told graduating midshipmen at the United States Naval Academy in
Annapolis, Md. ''We must do more to protect our people.''  While
such major initiatives usually result from many months and
sometimes years of fierce debate, this one, Federal and private
experts said in interviews, was developed in record time, rushed
through amid worries of rising threats from Iraq and germ
terrorists. But today the multimillion-dollar plan is in
jeopardy, a victim in part of the haste in which the decision
was reached.  Some Government officials are calling for a
different approach that initially plays down vaccines in favor
of antibiotics. Others defend vacc