Keesler doctor to face trial for refusing shot

He wouldn't take disputed anthrax vaccine

By Christine Harvey and Reni Winter

The Sun Herald (Biloxi, MS)

February 14, 2001

KEESLER AFB - An Air Force doctor learned Tuesday that he will face a general court-martial for refusing to take the anthrax vaccine.

If he is court-martialed, or found guilty, Capt. John Buck, an emergency room physician at Keesler Air Force Base, could spend five years in prison without pay.

Buck also could be kicked out of the military with a less than honorable discharge and have a felony offense on his record if he is found guilty.

The court-martial date has not been set. But Buck, the first doctor to refuse the vaccine, said attorneys on both sides will meet within the next week to choose a date.

Col. Richard Griffith called Buck into his office Tuesday and gave him a paper recommending the general court-martial, Buck said.

Maj. Gen. John Regmi, the highest ranking officer at Keesler, made the decision to proceed with a trial after a military judge recommended the action.

On Oct. 18, Buck refused to take the anthrax vaccine when he was told to do so before deploying to the Middle East. He was charged with Article 90 of the Military Code of Conduct, "willfully disobeying a lawful command of a senior commissioned officer."

Buck, and other opponents to the mandatory vaccine program, object to taking the vaccine for several reasons.

He said he has treated patients who have had adverse reactions to the vaccine. Also, the form of anthrax the vaccine is designed to prevent is not the form that Defense Department officials believe would be used as a weapon against American troops, Buck said.

In addition, Buck and others say that the only laboratory that manufactures the vaccine has had numerous bad reports from the Food and Drug Administration.

Last month, Seabee David Ponder was sentenced to 60 days in jail and lost two grades of rank for refusing to take an anthrax vaccination.

Ponder, a 22-year-old builder third class at the Naval Construction Battalion Center in Gulfport, was court-martialed in Okinawa, where he had been deployed with his unit. He was tried for refusing an order and faced a maximum sentence of six months in jail and a bad-conduct discharge.