Pentagon to Resume Mandatory Anthrax Vaccinations

Mandatory anthrax vaccinations of U.S. military personnel serving in Afghanistan, Iraq and South Korea will resume within 30 to 60 days, the Defense Department announced yesterday (see GSN, Jan. 20).

A U.S. district judge ordered the mandatory immunization program halted in 2004 because of problems with the Food and Drug Administration’s approval process for the anthrax vaccine.  Six anonymous service people had challenged the vaccination program.

The military since April 2005 has been offering the shot on a strictly voluntary basis, the Los Angeles Times reported.  Roughly half of service personnel heading to the regions of concern agreed to take the shots, said William Winkenwerder, assistant defense secretary for health affairs.

“It is clear nobody likes getting shots if they don’t have to,” he said.  With the voluntary program, ‘we have been sending a signal that it is not as important as we believe it is.”

The FDA in December 2005 ruled that the existing anthrax vaccine is safe and effective, opening the door to resumption of mandatory shots. “The vaccine has been thoroughly reviewed by several independent outside groups,” Winkenwerder said.

Plaintiffs’ attorney Mark Zaid said he would file a new lawsuit to again halt the program.  The risks of the vaccine outweigh the benefits, he said. 

“There is no scientific proof the vaccine is effective in human beings,” Zaid said.

Several people died after receiving the anthrax vaccination, though the Pentagon has said a direct link between the shot and death has not been established, the Times reported.

There are now 140,000 troops in Iraq, 20,000 in Afghanistan and 30,000 in South Korea, along with defense contractors, who would fall under the mandatory program.

Winkenwerder said the threat of a biological attack should not be discounted.

“There have been very public, very direct comments made by terrorists about the religious duty to obtain chemical, biological and radio-nuclear capabilities,” he said (Julian Barnes, Los Angeles Times, Oct. 17).

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