Anthrax Vaccine Proves Hard Sell
Postal Employees Opt for More Pills

By Avram Goldstein and Helen Dewar
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, December 23, 2001; Page A18

Doctors and counselors from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began counseling skeptical District postal workers yesterday about the risks and benefits of an experimental anthrax vaccine being offered to protect them from late infections.

By last night, at least 40 workers had attended group counseling sessions at the V Street NE station, where government mail is sorted, officials said.

After participating in individual CDC counseling last week, several postal workers said yesterday they would not volunteer for the vaccination program, which has been criticized by local and state officials as unjustified. And some postal workers who had been to the briefings said officials seemed to be pushing additional antibiotics rather than vaccinations.

A couple of workers who went through a counseling session said they decided to take more pills. One of them, Leon Bean, said: "They're not pushing the vaccine. . . . My wife called me and told me to take the pills, so I'm going to take the pills."

Federal officials had not recommended the vaccine but instead made it available to those who might have been exposed to anthrax spores and who would be willing to try it without assurances it would work or any promise of financial or medical assistance if it made them sick.

CDC officials have said the vaccine has not been proved effective in preventing infection after exposure to anthrax spores and is not approved for that purpose. Its only previous use was in the armed forces as a preventative, not a therapy. Even if it helps individuals, CDC officials say, the vaccine is assumed to help only for several months.

The uncertainties left many workers unwilling to participate, preferring instead to simply extend their antibiotic regimen to 100 days.

"I figure 98 percent of people are not taking the shot," said Larry Prowell, 52, of Capitol Heights, who works at the V Street postal station.

His views were echoed by Robert L. Henderson, a friend and co-worker of Thomas L. Morris Jr., one of two who died of anthrax contracted at the Brentwood mail processing facility in Northeast Washington.

"You're not shooting me with nothing," he said. "I'm distraught with this situation. . . . My family is afraid for me being here. I love this job, but they can't prove to me [the vaccine is] going to help me."

The reaction has been different on Capitol Hill, where fewer people were exposed to anthrax spores and no one got sick. On Thursday, 48 of 70 Senate staffers deemed to be at risk got the first of three shots over a month, and several said they had few reservations about the vaccine regimen.

"For me, it wasn't a close call at all," said a 39-year-old legislative aide who spoke on condition of anonymity. He is an assistant to Senate Majority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) and was nearby when the contaminated letter was opened Oct. 15.

He said he considered the Army's experience and read materials from Capitol and military doctors. "I know I got a pretty good snort full of anthrax, and they really don't know enough about anthrax to tell at this stage of the game, after taking 60 days of antibiotics, how much of it is left in our systems," the aide said.

The only side effect of the vaccination was soreness at the injection site, he said.

While consultations began with D.C. postal workers, CDC officials in New Jersey and Florida began handing out packs of antibiotics to people who have used up their 60-day supplies. The extra medication is designed to keep them protected until they decide next week whether to take the vaccine and more oral antibiotics, take just the extra 40-day supply of pills or end their participation in the program.

Decisions will be made later about offering similar educational activities and "bridge" doses of antibiotics in Connecticut and New York, where the 60-day periods will run out next month, said Azeezaly Jaffer, the Postal Service's vice president of public affairs.

CDC plans to mail information to every affected worker in the District, and Jaffer said supervisors will discuss the vaccinations to supplement the messages they will see in a video and in counseling sessions.

"This is all part of our due diligence to make sure every employee receives the information," he said. "Repetition is a good thing here."

Staff writer Clarence Williams contributed to this report.