Pentagon limits anthrax vaccinations

By Reni Winter

The Sun Herald, Biloxi, MS

June 13, 2001

The Defense Department has limited its anthrax vaccination program for the third time, a move that comes less than a month after a military jury convicted Air Force Capt. John Buck of disobeying an order to take the vaccine. Now, only special forces and researchers will be required to take the vaccine, which was originally planned for all troops. Under the new criteria, Buck, an emergency room physician at Keesler Air Force Base, would not have been ordered to take the vaccine for deployment to the Middle East.

"They're now going to rely on the very thing I offered to do in the beginning, which is to take antibiotics," Buck said Tuesday after hearing of the latest reduction. "And I offered to do that at my own expense."

About 13,000 U.S. service members are now deployed to Southwest Asia, an area defense officials say is at high risk for biological warfare using anthrax. Defense officials said they have enough antibiotics on hand to treat the troops if they are attacked with biological weapons containing anthrax.

There are three antibiotics that the Food and Drug Administration "specifically acknowledges are effective against anthrax - penicillin, doxycycline and ciprofloxacin," according to Lt. Col. John Grabenstein, deputy director of clinical operations at the Department of the Army's Office of the Surgeon General.

The degree of effectiveness of the antibiotics depends on how much time elapses between exposure to the deadly microorganism and the administration of the antibiotics, Grabenstein said."Within 24 hours, they are more than 90 percent effective," he said. "The more time that elapses, the less effective the antibiotics are. If symptoms develop, antibiotics are only 20 percent effective, and there is an 80 percent mortality rate."

Effectiveness also depends on the dose of antibiotics and the amount of anthrax a person is exposed to, as well as other factors such as a person's immune system and overall health. BioPort, in Lansing, Mich., is the only anthrax vaccine manufacturing plant in the United States. The company stopped production at about the same time the Defense Department announced its intent to vaccinate all military personnel.

The military proceeded with the vaccination program, even though the FDA had issued a closing warning to BioPort for numerous violations. BioPort has not produced the vaccine since before the program started, and defense officials don't expect the FDA to approve the company's newly renovated anthrax production building until March 2002.

"We have not yet been able to re-establish the supply of certified, safe and effective vaccine to continue the program on schedule," said Marine Maj. Gen. Randall West, special assistant to the deputy secretary of defense for chemical and biological protection.

Buck and thousands of other opponents of the anthrax vaccination program believe it should be stopped completely until the vaccine is thoroughly tested and the production plant is approved by the FDA.

Reni Winter can be reached at 228-896-0538 or at rbwinter@sunherald.com