Congressional panel recommends suspension of military's anthrax vaccine

February 17, 2000
Web posted at: 8:09 a.m. EST (1309 GMT)

In this story: More than 300,000 U.S. military vaccinated Subcommittee seeks improved vaccine RELATED STORIES, SITES

From Assignment Editor Mike Ahlers

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A congressional panel on Thursday called on the Pentagon to suspend its program requiring all 2.4 million military personnel to take a vaccine against the deadly germ anthrax, calling the undertaking a "well-intentioned but over-broad response" to the threat of biological warfare.

"At best, the vaccine provides some measure of protection to most who receive it," the panel concluded in a 76-page report. But the program is "built on a dangerously narrow scientific and medical foundation."

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The U.S. military

The House subcommittee, headed by Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Connecticut), issued its recommendations after holding six hearings on the vaccination program -- hearings sparked in part by the refusal of some service members to take the vaccination and others reporting falling ill after being vaccinated.

Defense Secretary William Cohen announced the vaccine program in late 1997 after what the Pentagon described as a "detailed, deliberative process" spanning almost four years.

Under the initiative, all active-duty and reserve military personnel must get the vaccine, using a regimen that requires six shots over 18 months, and an annual booster. At least 320,000 U.S. military personnel have been vaccinated so far.

The Pentagon has long insisted that the program is safe and effective, and is prudent because more than 10 countries have, or are developing, biological weapons. Those nations are China, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Libya, North Korea, South Korea, Syria, Taiwan and Russia.

The Pentagon contends sending soldiers into battle without the protection against anthrax would be akin to sending them in without a helmet.

But congressional critics of the program say that while the threat of anthrax attacks are limited and regional, the vaccination program is universal -- a departure from normal military medical protocols.

They also say that the vaccine was approved for protection against cutaneous (under the skin) infection by veterinarians and livestock workers, not for use protecting troops against biological weapons.

Shays's subcommittee recommended that the Defense Department suspend the vaccination program until it develops and tests an improved vaccine.

While that vaccine is being developed, the subcommittee says, use of the current vaccine should be considered experimental and undertaken only under Food and Drug Administration regulations.

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Anthrax- General Information
The Official Department of Defense Anthrax Information Web Site
Tricare - The Military Immunization Information Source
NEHC Anthrax Vaccine Program Page
USMC Anthrax Vaccine Immunization Program
USCG Anthrax Vaccine Program
World Anthrax Data Site

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