Groups Seek Amnesty For Gis Who Refused Anthrax Shots

By Michael Kilian

Chicago Tribune
 
February 13, 2001

WASHINGTON -- Two groups representing 10 servicemen and women discharged or disciplined for refusing to take controversial anthrax shots asked President Bush on Monday to grant amnesty on compassionate grounds to all who refuse the vaccinations.

The groups, Citizen Soldier and NO ABUSE, also asked the White House to halt inoculations immediately and to reconsider the Clinton administration policy requiring the shots for all U.S. military personnel.

The groups claim the vaccinations pose a serious health hazard and are causing valuable personnel to leave the military in large numbers."President Lincoln gave amnesty to soldiers who fled under fire," said retired Air Force Reserve Col. Redmond Handy, president of NO ABUSE, a serviceman's advocacy group.

"It should be no problem for this administration to grant compassionate amnesty for people whose health is under fire."

The mass inoculations were ordered in 1997 by Defense Secretary William Cohen as a preventative measure against the possible use of anthrax biological warfare weapons by terrorists or nations such as Iraq that have bitter disputes with the U.S.

Since then, some 500,000 servicemen and women have received full or partial immunization.

Widespread reports of adverse health effects from the shots prompted hundreds of refusals, many of them resulting in courts martial and general discharges.

A General Accounting Office report released last fall found that one-quarter of the 176,000 pilots and crew in the Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard have quit or asked to be reassigned to avoid vaccinations.

The House Government Reform Committee has urged that the program be suspended. Supplies of the vaccine are dwindling because the only manufacturer, BioPort Corp. of Michigan, has been unable to produce replacement batches that meet Food and Drug Administration standards.

In December the Pentagon limited the inoculations to personnel assigned to the Persian Gulf region. All pilots and aircrew are required to receive them because they could be sent to the gulf region.

Disciplinary actions against personnel who balk at the shots have continued. Air Force Capt. John Buck, a military doctor, is facing a court martial for refusing the inoculations on legal, medical and ethical grounds.

Veteran Air Force pilots Maj. Sonnie Bates and Capt. Cliff Volpe accepted general discharges rather than follow orders to take the shots.

William Boylan of Wheaton, Ill., who joined representatives of the two advocacy groups at a Washington news conference, said he has two sons who were forced out of the Navy on general discharges for refusing the vaccinations.

"They're turning on these kids because of a health issue," Boylan said. "We're trying to get the government to take another look at its policy."

Handy said nearly all of those who have refused the vaccine had otherwise excellent service records. He cited the case of Tech. Sgt. Robin Smith of Lansing, Mich., mother of four who left the Michigan Air National Guard on a general discharge "after years of exemplary service. Her hand still shakes from the inoculation.

"The Pentagon maintains that the vaccine is safe and that while some people experience adverse effects from the shots, most side effects are not serious. Fewer than a thousand military personnel submitted reports to the FDA of adverse reactions, a Pentagon statement said.

The advocacy groups claim the shots have produced grand mal seizures, blackouts, severe bone and joint pain, excessive fatigue, blood pressure problems, vision difficulties and skin problems.

New Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has not yet indicated whether he will reconsider the policy of servicewide inoculation.
   

Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/article/0,2669,SAV-0102130187,FF.html